Montrose Flight - 1982, 1989, 1990, 1995

A great dinner of friends celebrating the life of the late George Rezek, a major force behind the IWFS of Chicago. The main course featured the wines of Chateau Montrose from the great years 1982, 1989, 1990 and 1995. We tasted and drank them throughout the main course, then discussed our opinions and rankings on the four. More on that after the tasting notes.

• 1982 Château Montrose 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Fully mature color, brown but healthy. Nose immediately hit me with bull's blood with a bit of tobacco. Definitely a masculine wine. Red fruits were apparent with a bit of cassis in the background. A very pleasant wine whose best days are behind it. What this baby would have been 10 years ago! Drink up.

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• 1989 Château Montrose 98 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  A dark, brooding wine that is still a little asleep. Noticeably darker than the 1990. The nose is muted but there's cedar and leather that's starting to come through. The palate is starting to show black fruits, tobacco and licorice with a huge tannic backbone that's not off-putting. This is a classically built Bordeaux if I've ever seen one and needs another 5-7 years of cellaring to see if it's woken up. At that point, I think it has another 40 years left in it, maybe more. Phenomenal.

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• 1990 Château Montrose 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Most at the dinner considered this a perfect wine, but I wasn't entirely there with that opinion, mostly because of the 1989 sitting next to it. This is a monster of a wine, no doubt. Deep red color with just a hint of age on the rim. The nose was cedar and tobacco. The palate was huge, with big but manageable tannins and an abundance of black fruits coming out. After about an hour in the glass, the slightest bit of astringency started to appear on the palate which is what caused me to rate it down a bit. The wine is still a baby however, so it will come around more with time and hopefully lose that astringency that came out later. Decades of life left.

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• 1995 Château Montrose 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Dark in color with a leather nose that shows the Montrose lineage. Very ripe and fruit forward with some noticeably acidity, almost California Cab-like. The tannins were resolving, making it an easy to drink wine. It's good now, but it's still young so I'll qualify my comments on it's ageability. As of now, I think it's got another 20 year of good drinking on it, perhaps a bit less. Still pretty good, but short-lived compared to the 1989/1990.

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In my mind (and palate), I ranked the 1989 the top wine, followed by the 1990, the 1982 and then the 1995. Generally the group went back and forth between ranking the 1989 or 1990 the top wine, with the overall score tally having the 1990 outscoring the 1989 by a nose. They're all great wines and I was privileged to be part of the evening.