Chateau Biston Brillette 2005 A 90 pointer from Bordeaux’s Greatest Vintage. Only 25 cases Available

  The Moulis vineyards

“Dark in color, with lots of ripe berry, plum and vanilla bean aromas. Full-bodied, velvety and round, with lovely tannins. A smart, well-crafted wine.” 90 -JS (James Suckling of Wine Spectator)

And, you remember what was said about the 2005 vintage?

“Retasting all the 2005s a few months before they are bottled confirmed just about everything the pundits had declared last year. It is an extraordinary vintage and one that is different from anything I have tasted in the last twenty-eight years. As a general rule, the wines are very concentrated, extremely high in tannin, and backward, but the fresh acids combined with the massive concentration and higher than normal alcohols make for a distinctive vintage that will probably be one of the longest-lived I have ever tasted.” -Robert Parker

Shimmery, garnet robe and dark berry fruit that is perfectly balanced with its tannins, this wine is real Bordeaux class. Biston Brillette is on my Top Ten list of my favorite Petits Chateaux, and I’ve sampled hundreds.

“The 2005 confirms our first impressions, it is a wine, radiant and seductive.” Les Meilleurs Vins de France 2008 – La Revue du Vin de France

I love going on a quest for over-achieving, under-priced Bordeaux. I’ve been doing it for almost 25 years now and Biston Brillette was one of my first discoveries. I first got interested in Biston Brillette when I started seeing it on many restaurant wine lists in the Medoc.

This is significant because these are the restaurants that all the Chateau owners and winemakers go to and a bad wine is not going to stay on the list for long. Over the years, vintage after vintage of Biston Brillette has remained on those wine lists. And, it is no surprise to me.

Biston Brillette is a Moulis wine. This very high-value-to-price commune lies between Margaux and St Julien. The cepage for Biston Brillette is about 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Merlot. Well-made wines like Biston Brillette tend to have the finesse of Margaux and the power of St. Julien. Serge Barbarin, the owner, uses about 30% new oak and integrates the wood so skillfully that the wine tastes like a pedigreed classified growth.

Biston Brillette has it all: ripe fruit, seductive nose, full-bodied goodness and a GREAT price. Put Biston Brillette on your trivet tonight! Cynthia Hurley