Bordeaux 1990 - 20 years later

We started out with a little warm up of the taste buds.

• NV Jacques Lassaigne Champagne Extra Brut Les Papilles Insolites Montgueux 90 Points

  France, Champagne

  Deep dark yellow, almost orange color. Heavy, robust aromas with mature red apples, yeast, rye bread. On the palate similar robustness and masculine appearance. Ripe red fruit first, apples and strawberries, with some bitterness, like blood orange, on the midpalate before a metallic finish. Very youthful and I’m sure it will improve with some cellaring. However the length was a bit disappointing.

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• 2008 Prager Riesling Smaragd Achleiten 93 Points

  Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau

  Medium deep yellow color. Intense and very pure aromas with white fruits, litchi, melon and pear, and a dominating touch of minerals, wet stones and slate. Powerful and intense taste with delicious pear, litchi and stones. Really great length, but at the moment a bit fat. I would have loved to taste this again on the second day, as my experience with these wines is that they really open up and gains a lot of elegance. So cellar this one for at least 5 years.

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On to the first flight of Bordeaux '90s. Very good start, which was much in line with my expectations for the vintage.

• 1990 Château Sociando-Mallet 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc

  Dark red color with a brick red hue. Exciting nose with blackcurrant, green pepper, tomato stalk and animal fur. Juicy blackcurrant and plums on the palate, velvety texture and sweet licorice, shoe polish and pencil shavings on the midpalate and finish. Unfortunately it seemed to faded a bit in the glass.

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• 1990 Château Calon-Ségur 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Dark red center with a browning hue. Sweet, crushed berries, blackcurrant and plums, shoe polish and sweet tobacco on the decadent nose. Similar stilled taste with greasy blackcurrant and plum leading into the shoe polish, sweet tobacco and leather on the midpalate and finish. Soft around the edges and ready to drink.

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• 1990 Château Lynch-Bages 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Dark center with an orange hue. Very pure and distinct nose with beautiful blackcurrant, leaves, licorice, tobacco and iron. The taste has similar pure blackcurrant fruit, backed by green, vegetable notes of green peppers and tobacco leaves. On the finish it’s more mineral notes of iron and pencil shavings as well as some greasy licorice and truffles. Great length and character.

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Wow - second flight stepped it up pretty big. I was very surprised with the quality of these - especially when I saw the bottles. Great promise, which really got the tasting going.

• 1990 Château Lagrange (St. Julien) 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Dark red center with a browning hue. Mature nose with notes of wet earth, shoe polish, leather and resin. On the palate it still has juicy, sweet blackcurrant fruit on the attack, but shows the same fully mature notes of shoe polish, sweet licorice and prunes on the mid palate and finish. Delicious drinking now and a bit decadent profile.

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• 1990 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Dark center with a slightly browning hue. Classic cabernet nose with blackcurrant, pencil-shavings, cigar box and so on with the added notes of red berries, truffles and herbs. On the palate it is amazing with juicy, well-rounded blackcurrant and plum fruit, pick up on some vanilla sweetness, prunes and truffles on the mid palate and finish. Very intense and delicious, but it presents itself as elegant and majestic.

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• 1990 Château La Conseillante 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Browning to orange color. Intense nose with plums, fruit tobacco, carry paste and orange peel. Very intense on the palate with rounded juicy fruit, blackcurrant and lots of delicious plum. On the midpalate and finish it adds fruit tobacco, dates and cigar box to the mix. Great length. This one stood a bit out of the left-bank line up with it more spicy and exotic notes, but none the less great character and exciting to drink.

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On to the big guys. Absolutely stunning! The Barton stood no chance in this flight, but the Las Cases and Poyferré where so close that it split the table - counting the vote it was in favor of the Poyferré. Nailed this flight blind.

• 1990 Château Léoville Barton 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Dark color with a browning hue. Sweet cherry, marzipan, tobacco, turpentine and cabbage on the nose. Juicy blackcurrant and red berries on the attack, turning into fruit tobacco and a touch of burned sugar as it fades over the mid palate and finish.

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• 1990 Château Léoville Las Cases 98 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Dark red color, still with a reddish hue. Very pure nose with fresh and elegant blackcurrant fruit and pencil shavings. Extremely refined. Bringing the same cool, pure blackcurrant fruit on the palate along with notes of blackcurrant leaves and stalks and pencil shavings. On the mid palate and finish it grows in complexity adding black cherries, tobacco, prunes and cigar box to the mix. The sweetness and juiciness of the fruit it of great pleasure, but it does not lose its intellectual side, having an underlying mineral and iron streak. Amazing length, laser-like purity and extraordinarily delicious.

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• 1990 Château Léoville Poyferré 99 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Dark red color still with a reddish hue. Intense aromas of pure, elegant blackcurrant fruit and ripe cherries tightly packed together in multiple layers. Similar feel of purity and elegance on the palate where the juicy, primary fruit continues to dominate – even after 20 years! The fruit broadens out on the mid palate and finish with layers of licorice, cigar box, truffle oil and a touch of graphite. The balance is impeccable, but the most amazing thing is the lift you feel in this wine, while it is full-throttle primary fruit there is a surreal lightness that makes it seem to evaporate in the mouth while the finish lingers on forever. Super intense and extremely delicious. Extraordinary.

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Moving on to Saint Émilion. Again great quality wines, but too bad the Canon-la-Gaffelière was off.

• 1990 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Brown color, cabbage, Madeira and oxidized aromas. Still some fruit on the palate but ending fairly dry leads me to believe this bottle was at least lightly oxidized/cooked.

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• 1990 Château La Dominique 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Reddish center but browning hue. Mushy nose with stewed blackcurrant and plums, a slightly oxidized hint of cabbage, compost heap and burned rubber. On the palate there is a good deal of juicy, enjoyable blackcurrant and plum, but again the rustic farmyard notes of earth and basement. Mature notes of prunes, tobaco as well as touches of leather and mushroom on the finish.

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• 1990 Château Troplong Mondot 98 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Dark red center with a brick red hue. Intense and concentrated aromas jumps out of the glass with juicy, rich blackcurrant, plum and a plethora of underlying notes such as licorice, cigar box, prunes, liqueuer and mint leaves. On the palate this is huge, concentrated and intens with unctuous, multi layered fruit, the depth and pureness of the fruit mixed with the dried, port-like notes is amazing and the vibrant acidity take this into orbit. Stunning complexity that matches the nose follows on the midpalate on what remains a surprisingly youthful wine. No doubt a character, but in my point of view one of the wines of the vintage.

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To round off the tasting we went through three older decades of Bordeaux, fun and very educational.

• 1982 Château d'Issan 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Chestnut color. Mature perfumed nose with prunes, rose bed, compost and shoe polish. Sweet and succulent prune juice on the palate backed by tobacco and flowers petals. Showing a good deal of maturity and I believe it might have had better days. Fine length and a lot of finesse, but lacking some depth and stuffing on the midpalate. Fully mature.

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• 1971 Château Cheval Blanc 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Chestnut color. Mature perfumed nose with plum and prune juice, olives, pencil shavings, elephant cage, wet fur, basement and cedar wood. Wildly aromatic. Sweet and succulent plum and prune juice, but packing a seriously complex and mature midpalate and finish with notes of pipe tobacco, wet fur, truffles, basement and cedar wood. Lots of exciting personality and character, caught at its plateau of maturity. Very interesting wine.

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• 1961 Château L'Arrosée 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Dark red center with a browning hue. Showing more age in the aromas than on the color with coffee, tobacco leaves, raisins and hints of pencil shavings. On the palate it is pure and elegant with blackcurrant fruit coming through over the attack and midpalate. The tannins have integrated some time ago, leaving a velvety mouth feel. More mature notes on the finish where the tobacco leaves, pencil shavings and dried fruit lingers.

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We ended on a high note with Krug 1988.

• 1988 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut 97 Points

  France, Champagne

  Medium yellow color. The aromas jump out of the glass with exciting, very fresh and pure citrus fruits, yellow apples, burned toast, butter and nuts. On the palate the layers of yellow fruits is stunning, all clearly delineated, yet intermixed in a complex mesh of citrus, lemons, grape, blood oranges and yellow apples. Striking acidity that picked me up and sharpened my attention. On the midpalate the taste mellows a bit with sherry flor, flute, citrus soda and butter. Exceptional length and freshness. A grandiose Champagne.

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