Chateau Leoville Poyferre 2005

"This wine's heady rush of flavor gave one taster goosebumps. She called it sexy. "Formidable." Other technical descriptions included "the shazam," "has zazz," and "unprintable. That's some serious s#¡†." At the en primeur tastings, this ap­peared to be chunky and superripe. Now it's massive, with dark extract and exotic spice, a sophisticated wine that ends on sweetness, bitter chocolate and dark berry fruit. With all the flash, it will give a lot of pleasure as a young wine, but it has the plump Poyferré terroir drive to sustain that pleasure for years to come."

95 Points

Wine & Spirits

"Hugely concentrated and packed with tannins, this wine shows considerable amounts of dark, extracted fruit. It wins out on impressive power, driving the fruit through the tannins, giving great richness."

94 Points

Wine Enthusiast

"Although I still prefer the 2003, the 2005 Leoville Poyferre is a gorgeously opulent, approachable wine that is far less massive and austere than its two siblings. The most seductive, approachable, and charming of the three Leovilles, it exhibits a dense purple color as well as a sweet bouquet of mocha, black chocolate, creme de cassis, licorice, and toasty oak. Full-bodied with gorgeous upfront fruit in addition to impressive levels of melted, well-integrated tannin, it should be at its finest between 2015-2035."

93 Points

The Wine Advocate

"Saturated ruby-red. Deeply pitched aromas of black cherry, currant and coffee. Sweet, silky and full, but with lovely ripe acidity to frame the dense black fruit, mocha and mineral flavors. Showing a glossy aspect to its fruit that is exhilarating, even if this deep, fairly tannic wine is a bit sullen at present, despite showing excellent back-end breadth. This is a full 13.5% alcohol; the petit verdot component reached 14.5% potential alcohol in 2005, said Cuvelier, who describes 2005 as "a year of sun but not surmaturite"

93 Points

International Wine Cellar

"Dark ruby red in color, with aromas of currant, blackberry, toasty oak and light cappuccino. Full-bodied, with ultrafine tannins and a beautiful, caressing aftertaste. Touches every part of the palate. Outstanding, but slightly disappointing after such a great showing from barrel. Best after 2009. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 18,915 cases made. "

92 Points

Wine Spectator

"This nicely filled wine is fairly forthright in its ripeness and comes just a bit closer to the Californian model as far as flesh and fat are concerned. After a very rich start, it firms up and tightens a touch in the latter going, and ample tannins arrive to provide the right structural grip to its nicely sustained finish. While there are aspects about it that might encourage early drinking, this one will not be at its best for six to ten years."

92 Points

Connoisseurs' Guide