Uncorked DK tasting: 1989/1990 Bordeaux

Friday the members of Uncorked DK got together for a tasting of some of the greatest Bordeaux's from 1989 and 1990. Expectations were high, but we were not to be let down.

The tasting were hosted by Kenneth who did an absolutely amazing job of not only collecting these wines, but also ensuring that all were with perfect provenance. All wines this night were in perfect shape. Some of the corks looked like they were from wines only 2-3 years old. Amazing!

Also Kenneth's wife, mother-in-law and neighbour "slaved" in the kitchen and produced amazing dishes. All in all a night to remember... and now let's talk about the wines!

As always we started with some bubbly.

• 1990 Bollinger Champagne R.D. Extra Brut 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  I had the same as this just 2 weeks ago, but were unable to recognize it. It displayed some of the same elements: Nice dark yellow. Notes of mature pears, sour dough, roasted nuts, Bollinger-signature sherry-like aromas. However this time the mousse seemed tired and the acid too excessive. Maybe the difference is a matter of provenance or maybe last time the food made the difference. Last time I gave it 95. This bottle merits no more than 93.

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• 1990 Château Gruaud Larose 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Dark red with a slightly lighter rim. Intense nose of dark blackcurrant and cherries with lots of sweetness and a distinctive herbal touch. In the mouth it's round and perfectly mature with intense flavors. Plums comes to mind among other things. It dries a bit (just a bit) out in the aftertaste.

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• 1989 Château Troplong Mondot 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Very dark red. Nose is extremely sweet and licquer-like, wild forrest berries, blackcurrant and blackberries. Compared to the nose the mouth seems a bit closed. It's still very structural with loads of tannins. Very long after taste. With air it begins to come alive. Also displays some rusty and iodine like elements. It's very complex and will probably improve further, but looses out on shere drinkability.

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• 1989 Château L'Evangile 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Red with a slightly light and brownish rim. Notes of intense blackcurrants, tobacco, cedre - very special and very sweet. In the mouth it seems dusty with red fruit, much acid and some licorice as well. Ends on a bit of a dry note, but overall very pleasing and very interesting. Nowhere near being "old" as WA will have you believe.

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• 1990 Château Cos d'Estournel 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Dark red. Sweet, but a bit shy, nose, but once again with some of the classic notes - blackcurrants and some blackberries. Very long and intense with finely grained tannins. Has some very pleasing and distinctive notes of mint and herbal tea as well as green pepper which takes it to another level. Very classic and refreshing.

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Both wines in this flight were very young and more structured and backwards than the previous wines.

• 1990 Château Léoville Las Cases 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Very dark. Intens and brooding nose with licquer-like qualities, black as well as red fruits and hints of bacon, high quality Cuban cigar (Cohiba?) and lots of pepper. In the mouth its sweetnes is subdued by more pepper. Very long and still tannic.

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• 1990 Château Angélus 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Another very dark and youthfully looking bottle. The nose is just great with sweet and intense berries. In the mouth the tannins still feels youthful. In addition to the dark fruit there's coffee, dark chocolate and a peppery spicyness. Good length as well. A great wine with the potential to become even better.

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• 1990 Château L'Evangile 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Dark red. Sweet nose with pibe tobacco, cherries and some herbal and tea like notes. Big and delicious sweetness in the mouth together with intensity, grainy tannins and a very looong aftertaste. The most sexy wine of the night and very classy as well.

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• 1990 Tertre Rôteboeuf 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Dark red core. This immediately gives itself away as something very modern with its overly sweet nose of butter-fried toffee. Seems heavier than most of the others. Air and food eventually makes it seem more balanced and classic as it starts to reveal some sexy red fruit. Very pleasing in the end.

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• 1990 Dominus Estate 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  (The first of two jokers.) Dark red. Notes of red as well as black berries as well as some licorice. The nose does come across as somewhat artificial - vitamin pills? In the mouth it is very nice with a good intensity and very seducing. Still some tannins left. The nose made most participants guess that this was a joker outside of Bordeaux. Some guessed for Italy. All in all it's a very classy wine with a very obvious kinship with Bordeaux.

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Kenneth "cheated" us and introduced this legendary flight sooner than we expected. It made the evening very interesting as especially the Haut Brion made for an interesting anchor of comparison with some of the later wines.

• 1989 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Dark red with an ever so slightly brownish rim. Nose is a bit shy, but still delicious with intense licquer-like sweetness and a lot of herbal notes. In the mouth it is very intense, spicy, sweet and herbal. This wine was the first this night to display some of the ethereal lightness that some great Bordeaux possesses. When we learned what this was it confirmed our suspicion that it was possibly a bit closed. Also it was very much dominated by wine number two in this flight (Haut Brion 1989).

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• 1989 Château Haut-Brion 99 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Dark red with a slightly brown rim. The nose is very intense, dark and herbal with a bit of mint and lots of pepper. In the mouth this instantly reveals itself as an amazing wine, from the second it enters and to the second it leaves (which it almost never does) it is virtually seamless with nothing sticking out, nothing to detract from the experience of a great wine. The length is unbelievable - at least 2-3 minutes. I actually gave this 98 points at first. After having later tasted two more perfectly eligible candidates for a perfect score (Troplong Mondot 1990 and Margaux 1990) I had to go back and revise. It "only" gets 99+ however as I didn't get that certain inexplicable 100! feeling, but it's certainly among the 3-5 best wines I have ever had.

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This has got to be one of the most debated and controversial flights in our tasting group.

• 1982 Château La Tour Haut-Brion 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  (Second joker out of two.) Dark red. Nose is sweet and intense, but with a classy and cool herbal and mineral-based touch. In the mouth this is sweet, delicious and seducing with some special red berries and a spicy aftertaste with an almost Asian quality to it. Very interesting to taste - a BIG thank you to Hans for bringing this!

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• 1990 Château Troplong Mondot 99 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Dark red. The nose is unbelievable out of this world sweet with wild red berries with an almost juicy character. In addition it is also pretty complex with butter toffee and forrest floor like elements. The mouthfeel is simply amazing! It is so ethereal that it feels like it evaporates the moment it enters the mouth: the wine dissappears, but the flavors stay, enters the bloodstream and goes to your head like a rush. This wine in itself made for a very interesting experience, but what makes this even more interesting is that I had this wine a couple of months ago and I am simply unable to recognize it as being the same wine - when I tasted this last it was dense, dark and peppery, very good (95 pts), but nowhere near this level. I guess this supports the notion that this a controverial wine with much bottle variation. I felt tempted to give this the magic 100, but as we just had Haut Brion 1989 and I believed that - in retrospect - the Haut Brion was slightly better, very different, but slightly better I chose instead to give this 99 and go back and revise my score for Haut Brion to 99+. One member of the tasting group gave this 100 pts which spawned a heated debate as others believed this to be somewhat internationally styled and lacking in complexity. I agree somewhat with that, but the mouthfeel, the mouthfeel were simply one of a kind!!!

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• 1990 Château Montrose Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Unfortunately this was corked. You could sense the greatness of the wine through the cork however.

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• 1990 Château Margaux 98 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Dark red. Very sweet and seducing nose of red berries (strawberries?) and a very hedonistic smoked quality. In the mouth it is beautifully intense, round, seamless, balanced, ethereal and perfectly mature. Without a doubt the most classic as well as classy wine of the night. For many participants THE wine of the night and a perfect wine, but bearing in mind the uniqueness of Haut Brion 1989 and Troplong Mondot 1990 I couldn't go higher than 98 with this one.

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I have to admit that I felt tired at this point and maybe I wasn't able to pay enough attention to these wines as my held was still swimming (from the experience, not the alcohol) from the previous wines.

• 1989 Domaine Engel Riesling Sélection de Grains Nobles 90 Points

  France, Alsace

  Dark yellow, slightly brown. Nice and intense nose of orange peel and some petroleum with good depth. In the mouth I found it to be a bit short as well as too acidic.

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• 1989 Château d'Yquem 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Dark yellow with a brownish glow. Nose is intense with some glue, dried flowers, orange and nuts. Tastes very well and is very pleasing, but the alcohol showed a bit too much in the aftertaste. Somehow I didn't really find this to be a classic Yquem - where were the coconut, the marzipan and the fat? (Other participants believed that they could find these qualities, maybe I was just getting tired...)

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There's no doubt in my mind that we are dealing with two great vintages. All wines had great balanced as well as intensity and seemed to be aging effortlessly.

All wines without exception made for terrific drinking, but three wines were just in a league of their own: Haut Brion 1989, Troplong Mondot 1990 and Margaux 1990. All of them candidates for perfect wines, but just as interesting all of them in very different styles. Haut Brion is a monumental wine, Troplong Mondot had that mindboggling mouthfeel and Margaux was supremely elegant and classy. For me they were tied as follows: 1. Haut Brion 1989, 2. Troplong Mondot 1990 and 3. Margaux 1990. No doubt those three wines will be debated in our tasting group for years to come...

/Gorm