1988 Red Bordeaux, with Richard Brazier

Richard Brazier of Ancient & Modern Wines (http://www.ancientandmodernwines.co.uk/) presented a flight of 1988 Red Bordeaux as an introduction and update to the vintage at the age of 25. The Choice of left bank to right is as this was a bad merlot year and apart from Cheval Blanc in his view the rest were uninteresting wines.

1988 wine are wines of the best and the worst for him. The top 20 made good wines however the end bit made dreadful wines. Apparently when young the tannins were far too strong a point that we can believe very easily given how evident they are today

From our point of view 1988 is a year characterised by:
1.Dark Coloured wines showing little Discoloration
2.Classic in all aspects, style, nose and benefit from long aging. Still very young and these need another 5yr plus. These are wines I buy from our grandkids style…
3.No secondary notes yet... at all. The only one with a bit of secondary character was Lynch and shown through. Maybe that’s why.
4.Light on the finish at this stage
5.Quite a lot of tannin still and in most cases it looks it could outlive the fruit. Quite a few had harsh edges still.
6.Only focus on he top if you have to buy them and even then good luck.

• 1988 Château La Lagune 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc

  Quite a dark red colour, a hallmark of the 88 vintage from our flight tonight. Classic on the nose, open. Light fruit, spice, pepper. Lightest touch of earthy notes, light floral (Nicol commented a CdP like nose). On thepalate it hits u with a rush of a bitter edge. The fruit is present but not concentrated, especially on the mid palate and has quite a bit of tannin across. A few rough edges and very little finish! Still will last another 5-10yrs easily but not sure it will gain charm.. 87-88

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• 1988 Château Rausan-Ségla 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Textbook 88 dark in colour.Herby peppery nose, light fruit and not earthy or secondary at all. Round on the palate, savoury, with decent fruit weight. Some length but not enough (more than the La Lagune we tried before it). A tough of dry tannin on the finish. Definitely has the energy to go another 10yrs and hopefully the secondary side of it when it emerges will add to the charm and complexity. 88-89 for now.

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• 1988 Château Léoville Barton 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Dark red in colour true to its 88 heritage as we have come to conclude. Shy on the nose, restrained, light spice, some liquorice, light floral but generally u have to dry to find it. Well round on the palate, good tannin but not harsh (on the finish it has some harsh edges from the tannin) and with an enjoyable side. Unfortunately the magic/energy has checked out here and the wine feels charmless at this stage. Looks like it can last another 10yrs and hopefully it will get better. 89 for now at best

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• 1988 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Dark dense in colour, late 2000s not late 80s colour. Nose needs time to develop and post the initial shy stage it develops a classic nose, light spicy,light red fruit. Timid nose. On the palate the fruit shows, good weight, classic in many ways that it’s a wine for the long haul and this just about feels to be entering its dinking window. Not very giving and with harsh feel on the finish but given enough time this should offer good drinking. Forget it for 5yrs minimum and then it will last another 10 in our view. 90-91 at this stage though

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• 1988 Château Léoville Las Cases 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Dark red in colour. Light touches of brown but really not a colour for a 25yr old wine (an 88 vintage hallmark) Open on the nose, peppery, youthful in a way but very classic nose, light fruit and no signs of any secondary elements. On the palate it has a proper weight of fruit across. Still it is in a way a backward wine as the fruit is not very giving. In general it gave a charmless feel… Feels like a good wine in hiding and we hope the future would be brighter for it… Forget for 5 yrs and this has a lot of life to go post that. 91-92 for now.

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• 1988 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Good dark colour as with all of our 88s this evening. Savoury, light fruit,light spiceand light herby nose. Mild nose. No secondary elements at all. Classic Bordeaux, old school feel good firm tannin, good fruit. Has a roundness to start in and a balance and its only on the finish that the tannin makes an out of tune appearance. Again much lie the Ducru and LLC before this si to forget for 5yrs minimu. Good life ahead although not sure how much better it will get. Nicol 90 / Andreas 92+

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• 1988 Château Lynch-Bages 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Finally a 1988 to get excited about and by far the best of the line up along with the Pichon Lalande. Extremely dark colour.. is this a 2005? Spicy, light earthy (the first of the 88s to show an earthy side tonight). Young still but with good weight of fruit, vibrant and complex! Great balanced across good fruit on the mid palate, light leather tones. Tannin is there on the finish but in general this is a very good wine. Lots of life ahead and more ageing will only but help! 93-94+

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• 1988 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Along with the Lynch Bages the only other exciting wine in our 88 line up. Again very dark in colour. Nice and developed nose, classic in many ways. Well round and supple on the palate, well balanced fruit and tannic structure. Had a charmless side on the midpalate but we will forgive it as across the board this behaved very well and given time this will only get better. Good life ahead. 94-92

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• 1988 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  The difference a road makes.. Unfortunately it could not match or even follow its cousin from across the road.. Good youth full dark colour. Tight on the nose, restrained. A bit hard on the palate, tannin harsh edges on the finish. Maybe it’s the fact that it followed the Lynch Bages and the Pichon Lalande both of which we found very nice that shone a light of disappointment here.. We suggest one forgets this for 5yrs at least. 91 at best now

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• 1988 Château Haut-Brion Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Dark, red with a lot of brownish tint. Off putting nose, oxidised, musty. Flawed unfortunately.

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