Chateau Guiraud Sauternes (375ML half-bottle) 2005

Professional Ratings

• 97 Wine Spectator
  
  #4 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2008

  Delivers lots of botrytis spice, with lemon tart and cooked apple. Full-bodied, with loads of cream and vanilla and an intense tropical fruit and honey aftertaste. Long and viscous, with a layered and beautiful spicy finish. Hard not to drink it now. Best after 2014.

• 97 James Suckling
  This appears to be the synthesis of the fabulous 2001 and 2003. It shows wonderful aromas of botrytis spice, honey and citrus rind. Lots of fruit with a tropical fruit undertone of mango and papaya on the palate. Intense finish. Too excellent not to drink.
• 95 Wine Enthusiast
  Typical of the huge power of Guiraud, this is one of the richest Sauternes in 2005. The wine is rich and intense, the dry edge of botrytis just dominating the sweetness. Flavors of honey, almonds and peaches give the wine extra complexity.
• 95 Wine & Spirits
  Seething with power, there's baritone richness to this wine's complex fruit, a deeper tone to the surface of honey and citrus. It feels clean, fresh and bright, the structure holding the wine's complexity tight for now, waiting to release it with age.
• 93 Connoisseurs' Guide
  No quibbles here. This is a concentrated, fairly complex offering whose pear syrup, pineapple, roasted nuts, coconutty aromas may be the slightest bit unusual but are every bit inviting. Juicy and rich in flavor with more than a touch of honey noted, the wine has plenty of underlying acidity that helps make its youthfully sugary flavors attractive even now but which also guarantees that this lush wine has a second decade and possibly more in its future.
• 92 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  Tasted blind at the 10-Year On Tasting in Sauternes. The 2005 Château Guiraud has a rich nose of dried honey, orange blossom and buttercup that is nicely defined but does not quite have the intensity of the best Sauternes 05s. The palate is fresh and lithe on the entry, smooth and honeyed both in taste and texture with a long orange zest, vanilla and almond finish that is sensual and persistent. It meliorates in the glass, forages more zest and vitality, so don’t be afraid to aerate/decant this for an hour or two.