Following our BYOB dinner out at Entourage DG Friday, where we opened from our home cellar a twenty year old vintage Grand Cru Classe’ Bordeaux with their signature Meatloaf entree, I pulled another such wine to accompany the take-home leftovers for Sunday evening dinner at home for a mini horizontal tasting of the 2005 Bordeaux vintage.
We also paired this with some artisan cheeses, “F.R.O.G.” (Figs, Raspberries & Oranges Spiced with Ginger) Preserves, crackers and pitted greek olives. 
The Château Haut-Bages Libéral estate consists of 75 acres of vineyards planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot. The main vineyard that surrounds the Chateau and winery sits next door to first growth Château Latour and shares the distinctive terroir with parcels of limestone soils, which some say lend elegance and finesse in a commune often known for power.
Château Haut-Bages Libéral 2005
This time I opened a Left Bank Pauillac Bordeaux rather than the Right Bank St Emilion we drank Friday.
Château Haut-Bages Libéral Grand Cru Classe’ 2005
This is from’ Fifth Growth’ producer (as classified in the original Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855), Château Haut-Bages Libéral that sits on the outskirts of the town of Pauillac (hence the name of the Pauillac Appellation (AOC)), just down the road and adjacent to top producers Pichon Baron, Pichon Lalande and Chateau Latour.
We stopped at the estate winery and vineyards during our Bordeaux Wine Experience trip in 2019.
Château Haut-Bages Libéral was established by and is named for the Libéral family who were négociants and vineyard owners in the early 1700’s, and for its position on the Bages plateau, like the similarly named well known neighbor Lynch Bages.
The estate fell to lower quality and a state of somewhat disrepair during the wars and financial crises of the early 1900s, until the Cruse family (owners of Château Pontet-Canet at the time) purchased the property in 1960.
The Cruse family engaged in widespread replanting of the vineyards and improved the quality, actually producing Haut Bages Liberal at Château Pontet-Canet for several years.
In 1983, they sold Chateau Haut Bages Liberal to the Taillan group. The Taillan group owns several chateaux in Bordeaux including: Chateau Gruaud Larose in Saint Julien, Chateau Ferrier in Margaux, Chateau Chaste Spleen, Chateau Camensac, Chateau Gressier Grand Poujeaux and Chateau Citran in the Haut Medoc, and Chateau Broustet in Sauternes.
In 2000, the Taillan group renovated and modernized the wine-making facilities at the Pauillac estate.
They sold the estate to the current owners, the Villars-Merlaut family, who continued improvement under the direction and leadership of Claire Villars-Lurton who also serves as winemaker. Along with her husband Gonzague Lurton, Claire Villars-Lurton also owns and manages Chateau Ferriere and Chateau La Gurgue in Margaux and Chateau Domeye in St. Estephe. They also make wine from Bordeaux varietals in Sonoma, California at their Trinite Estates vineyard.
The Château Haut-Bages Libéral estate consists of 75 acres of vineyards planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot. The main vineyard that surrounds the Chateau and winery sits next door to first growth Château Latour and shares the distinctive terroir with parcels of limestone soils, which some say lend elegance and finesse in a commune often known for power.
Another vineyard sits across the road adjacent highly acclaimed Chateau Pichon Baron, which shares the classic Pauillac terroir consisting of gravel on chalk, clay, and limestone soils, and a third smaller parcel site is further inland. The average age of the vines is close to 35 years of age.
Haut-Bages Libéral produces roughly 10,000 cases of wine per vintage, including this Grand Vin and their second wine (labeled as either Le Pauillac de Haut-Bages Libéral, La Chapelle de Bages, or La Fleur de Haut-Bages Libéral).
At twenty years old, this was holding better than the Château Larmande 2005 we opened Friday, which was beginning to shows signs of aging with a crumbling deteriorating cork and a slight fall-off of the fruit.
The important fill level and cork were both still near perfect, and the fruit aromatics filled the room as soon as it was opened (using an Ahso two pronged cork puller). Vinous wrote in 2021 “The 2005 Haut-Bages Libéral is a very young Pauillac that is just beginning to show the first signals of aromatic opening.”
There’s still several years left of prime drinking in this vintage release.
This wine, as I have often written, that in great vintages, “all boats rise with the tide”, such that lesser growth producers, and second and even third wines of top producers, delivers great QPR - quality price ratio, as it sells for a fraction of the price of its ultra-premium highly acclaimed neighbors.
This release was awarded 92-94 points by Wine Enthusiast, 93 by Wine Spectator, 91 by Vinous, and 90 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.
Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, aromatic, opulent, moderately firmly structured rich round blackberry and black currant fruits with notes of licorice, spice, cigar box and forest floor, with smooth tannins on a big expressive finish.
Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, aromatic, opulent, moderately firmly structured rich round blackberry and black currant fruits with notes of licorice, spice, cigar box and forest floor, with smooth tannins on a big expressive finish.
RM 91 points.
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