Chateau Palmer Margaux 2005 750ml
SKU: RDFR20051325
An absolutely iconic Margaux from one of the great Bordeaux vintages, the 2005 Château Palmer is power and elegance in perfect harmony. With incredibly concentrated fruit, silky tannins, and soaring aromatics of graphite, dark berries, and spice, it’s a wine that’s aging beautifully—and still has decades ahead. A collector’s dream, already showing greatness.
The Wine Advocate | RP 97
Published: May 30, 2016
Drink: 2022-2050
Tasted at the Château Palmer vertical in London, the 2005 Château Palmer is a legend in the making. Apparently the vines received 57% less rain than average, yet the 2005 shrugs off any water deficiency and has nurtured a wondrously pixelated bouquet, whereby mineralité shines through the black cherry and blueberry fruit. Search deeper and you discover veins of graphite that impart a Pauillac-like allure. The palate is medium-bodied and intense, but it is not overwhelming, a Margaux that is galvanized with a firm backbone thereby ensuring this will age over the long term. The symmetry here is enthralling - a 2005 that is destined for greatness. The only question is whether it will surpass the 2009 or 2010 Palmer? It will be fun finding out. Tasted May 2015.
Decanter | D 96
Drink: 2016-2035
Duroux described this as the ‘rocking chair’ vintage because of the perfect harvest conditions that required very little effort. The growing season provided small berries with great concentration and ripeness, he recalled. But the thing about 2005 is that it wasn’t lacking freshness and this is certainly a case in point. There’s lovely sweetness and structure here, but also great vitality and lift. On the nose are blackberry, lead pencil and cedar aromas. The palate has these and more with notes of chocolate, tobacco and spice. You’ll find ripe tannins, great structure and mid palate depth providing a long savoury finish. The result is a profound wine of great class, balance and complexity.
Closure: Natural Cork
Alcohol: 14.00%
James Suckling | JS 94
Published: Jan 9, 2012
What a nose of milk chocolate, with raspberries and hints of plums and flowers. A wonderful nose. Full-bodied, with super velvety tannins and a chocolate, nut, and dark fruit character on the palate. The fine tannins and great balance make you want to drink this, but you should wait and let it all out. Pull the cork in 2016.
Wine Spectator | WS 94
Published: Feb 1, 2018
Features a bright flash of bay leaf and savory out front, with streak of tobacco and cedar amid the relatively open core of black cherry and black currant fruit. The long finish has a terrific iron note ringing through. Among the more approachable of this group, but no less serious. -- Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Drink now through 2030. 10,000 cases made.
Jancis Robinson | JR 17.5
Published: Feb 12, 2025
Drink: 2018-2040
This was brought in place of an Angélus 2005 that turned out to be oxidised.
Juicy, vibrant, for the first time I wrote the word 'musical' to describe a wine! It must have had a lot to communicate.
Chateau-palmer.com
Château Palmer has always transcended fashions and trends to listen to a single voice: that of its terroir. The finesse and elegance of its roots in Margaux, the satin of its tannins, the nobility of its leather and the caress of its velvet...
- 2005 -
A rare kind of power.
A historic vintage driven by exceptional drought – the likes of which hadn’t been seen in France since 1976 – resulting in very low yields and highly concentrated grapes with juices bursting with aromas. Powerfully rare. Naturally, an excellent wine…
No one in France can remember a drought so intense that lasted for so long. To help the vines reduce their water consumption, we carefully thinned them out and removed the internodes to ensure optimum nutrition for the grapes. After a beautiful flowering at the start of June, the incredibly dry summer brought an early halt to growth – often the sign of an excellent vintage. The drought had two major consequences for the harvest: low berry swelling resulting in very low yields, and a gradual concentration of grape compounds, which spelled great things for the final result.
We began harvesting the Merlot on September 22, feeling that we were handing grapes of a rare quality. Daily tasting was nothing short of enchanting. Rarely had the skins been so concentrated in flavor; rarely had the tannins been so simultaneously powerful and velvety. The work in the vat room was made easier by the grapes’ excessive ripeness, and every effort was made to complete the fermentation smoothly given the unprecedented sugar content. We picked the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Petit Verdot between September 30 and October 7, both in excellent conditions.
Daily tastings during the vinification enabled us to control the extraction with the utmost precision to preserve freshness and balance in this powerful, concentrated vintage. Château Palmer 2005 is, without a doubt, the most exuberant vintage of the decade.
Blend
Merlot 40% Cabernet sauvignon 53% Petit verdot 7%
Harvest
From 22nd september to 7th october 2005