I picked up a case of this for around $13.50 per bottle. This is my first impression of the 05 vintage and based on this limited showing, I will be buying a lot of the "lesser" wines when they hit retail shelves. The level of tannin in this little Bordeaux was quite surprising. The wine shows great potential, but is was a tough drink over 2 days (even with decanting) with it seeming tight and reserved. The nose was barely there and it would fade in and out. The tannin muted the palate and clipped the finish. The brief glimpse of purity I found leads me to believe the wine will show well with cellar time (perhaps at least 5 years).

The risk is low buying these little gems and they will most certainly come around sooner than the classified growths. Based on this wine (mostly Merlot), I am glad I did not buy futures, at least at my age, as the big left bank wines will take 20+ years to be drinkable (JMHO and based on how I like my Bordeaux). If I were younger (and perhaps a bit richer ) this would be a vintage to grab up.