1989 Château Branaire (Duluc-Ducru)

Community Tasting Notes (124) Avg Score: 90.7 points

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  2/6/2024 - Jake Barnes wrote: 87 Points

  From a bottle purchased at auction, with a base-neck fill. Reportedly stored in a passive subterranean cellar. Excellent cork that was a bit spongy and crumbly but only soaked three-quarters of the way up and came out fully intact with the Durand. Decanted for sediment and served.
  
  Very dark in the glass, showing garnet at the edge and while pouring. Initially, it had a nice nose of decaying leaves and indistinct aged fruit. It was not heavily concentrated but not at all dried out. Sweet on the attack, showing thinning, aged black fruits, bitters, and orange zest on the palate with a bright vein of acidity and dusty tannins. It had a very nice mouthfeel. An hour of air made the most of this bottle allowing the bitters notes to give way to some fresher red fruit.
  
  Nice on the whole, but in the final analysis, this was just a very well-kept old wine with fairly generic old wine characteristics. 12.5% ABV (good/**/15/87)

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  11/25/2023 - englishman's claret wrote: 87 Points

  Followed for a few hours, this shows some pleasant raspberry and smoky cedar, but much of the rest of the notes are simply brett-derived. There’s not much wine underneath and the palate’s wooly tannins and modest depth corroborate that.

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  7/15/2023 - Ruach Likes this wine: 91 Points

  This is drinking remarkably smoothly for me. Opened the bottle about an hour before drinking and decanted to glasses 15 minutes before drinking. It still had some farm funkiest at the start but that went away really quickly. Aromas of dark red fruits, plums and cherries. A beautiful ruby color. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I plan to do a vertical tasting with the 2015 vintage in the next hour.

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  5/22/2023 - jviz wrote: 92 Points

  Agree that this was fully mature. Quick pour from the top of the bottle. Tobacco leaf, blackcurrant and some green pepper not often seen in this vintage. Not the finest 89 but ready to drink and quite good.

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  1/25/2023 - Vinumming & Ahhing Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Branaire Ducru Vertical (The Market Brasserie at the Intercontinental at the O2, London): This takes a little time to get going but charms when it does, this is fully evolved and has a slight liquorice character that I found in none of the other wines, fruit on the palate is plummy and warming. Good job.

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