85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 70% new oak. A nearperfect growing season, and this approaches perfection as it glides across the palate, with sweet fig and torrefied notes, salted caramel and saline. Utterly gorgeous. Could be drunk with huge pleasure right now – with an amazing balance and feather-like expression that lifts the whole thing up – but there’s no rush. Drinking Window: 2018 - 2038
Tasted by: Jane Anson
Part of Top Château L’Evangile wines and estate profile

I had forgotten what a wonderful Pomerol this is! Jean-Pascal Vazart has conjured a spellbinding wine that displays exceptional clarity on the nose with blackberry, kirsch, crushed violet and a touch of cassis. Underlying all this is a palpable sense of mineralité and focus. The palate is full-bodied with filigree tannins. Beautiful balance and so silky smooth towards the finish that it is easy to look over its structure and backbone. One of the finest wines from this estate in recent years. Tasted November 2011.

The 2005 L'Evangile is a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-brick in color, it delivers a powerful nose of juicy black and blue fruits - blueberry pie and plum preserves - with nuances of licorice, mocha, and tapenade, plus a hint of black truffles. This is a rich, medium to full-bodied fruit behemoth, with super-firm, super-ripe, rounded tannins and tons of freshness, finishing with epic length. Enjoy it now and over the next 20 years+. Owned by Lafite, L'Evangile's vines are located on the border of Saint-Emilion, just across from Cheval Blanc.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Review date: 2022-07-20
Source: Bordeaux: 2005 Retrospective
The Wine Independent

Rich, concentrated, dense, dark and powerful, this is still stubbornly hanging on to its youth. With coaxing, and time, you find a lush, and opulent wine filled with dark cocoa, licorice, smoky plums, ripe black cherries, truffle and espresso. The intense, long finish has real staying power. Give this 3-5 years in the cellar and it should really start to sing! June 2021

The 2005 L’Evangile’s gorgeous aromatics consist of spring flowers, black raspberries, licorice, truffle and graphite. The wine is full-bodied, rich, still youthful and backward, with sweet tannin and a long, layered, full-bodied mouthfeel. This stunner is capable of another two to three decades of longevity. The greatest L’Evangile since the 1982 and before the heroic duo of 2009 and 2010?

The 2005 L'Évangile is showing beautifully today. Early signs of aromatic nuance and complexity have begun to appear, suggesting the 2005 is at an early plateau of maturity. Sweet dark cherry, chocolate, spice and licorice add darkness to this decidedly potent, virile wine. This is a fabulous bottle of the 2005, a wine that, in my experience, has been inconsistent. It's a wine of its time, that much is very clear. April 2021

Good deep red-ruby. Knockout nose combines black raspberry, plum, minerals, truffle and smoked meat, complicated by torrefaction notes of coffee and chocolate; very ripe but not at all roasted. Enters sweet and silky, with an almost weightless impression, then saturates the palate with seamless flavors of dark berries, minerals and cocoa powder. Finishes long and fresh, with sophisticated, fine-grained tannins and piquant minerality. A beauty.

Dark in color, almost purple black, with pure tapenade and hints of ripe plum and berry. Full-bodied, with layer upon layer of velvety tannins and chocolate, berry, vanilla and tea flavors. Lasts for minutes. I am blown away by this wine. This has been amazing since the moment I tasted it from barrel. Reminds me of the superb 1950. James Suckling

The classicism in this L'Evangile has always seduced me with its subtle brown sugar, black olive, cedar, black truffle and dark fruit. Full body yet tight and extremely polished. Very layered and fine-grain textured. A perfect example of Pomerol. Always a perfect wine. Just opening now. Oct 2019