1989 bordeaux horizontal. All magnums. Served blind in 4 flights of 3. 28 pers. @ Orujo Rest. Bacchus wine group Puerto Rico
1 Clerc milon, GPL, Ducru
2 Pichon Baron, Montrose, Margaux
3 Pichon Lalande, Cos, Gruaud Larose
4 Latour, Lynch, LLC
The flights were arranged to get wines that were drinking similarly next to each other.
First flight GPL seemed out of balance, pauillac characteristics but some excessive acidity and structure when compared to fruit.
Wine of the flight was Clerc Milon (showing it is one of the best clerc milon ever). Ducru was muted. Not out of balance. Perhaps more time? I feel Ducru typically underperforms for a second growth.
Second flight much more consistency. Votes were spread out aming the 3 wines. Montrose showed well albeit softer than expected Drinking near peak.(Also one of the best Montrose ever). Pichon Baron developed handsomely in the glass no hurry to drink if you have it. Margaux (big surprise from the group) was the favorite of the flight with its floral violet, volcanic, dusty profile. Still powerful but entering it’s drinking window.
Third flight was beautiful. Softer more polished tannins than the other 9. Good all the way through. Many confused the Gruaud Larose with the Pichon Lalande. I compared the Montrose from the last flight with the cos here, and found a flashier more vibrant cos vs the montrose. Between the 2, today I preferred the cos, not for complexity but for pure pleasure.
Gruaud Larose was the winner by 1 and 2 votes over Lalande and Cos.
Fourth flight was power again like the second flight, but a notch above. The Lynch with it’s characteristic bell pepper notes and flashiness had more complexity on the nose and palate than the Latour and LLC. The LLC opened in the glass and was one of my favorite wines, but the Latour was monolithic. Unexciting.
A group of us revisited the Latour in a single bottle vs the Lafite later that evening and they did not budge much. They need more time, The lafite showed more interesting graphite and floral notes.
Overall a very good vintage with some beautiful wines you can drink today, and others that you should continue to hold. Good fruit on all wines so no hurry.
The 89 Clerc Milon occasionally pops up at auction and such for under $100 (sometimes well under), which makes it a really outstanding QPR. Excellent post, and fun that you were able to source magnums for all these wines!
Greta post! Thanks for the impressions.
Great lineup and interesting notes. I’ve gotten more bell pepper from 1989 Pichon Lalande than 1989 Lynch Bages. Well-stored bottles of the Lynch are still young and need another 5-10 years to start showing all their potential and complexity in my experience. My impressions match yours on the Pichon Baron and Montrose.
The muted Ducru could well be TCA just under detection level, '89 was certainly subject to it, unless this was a recently reconditioned bottle
I really am a fan on 1989 Bordeaux, though most aren’t quite at peak yet.
I agree with David, I generally get bell pepper on the Pichon Lalande. I have never had bell pepper in an '89 or '90 Lynch Bages. Most of the 89’s still need a little more time for my taste. Thank you for posting. Cheers
Opened an ‘89 Lynch this past week and it had one of the most marvelous looking corks I’ve ever seen. The wine was supremely balanced, and a true treat. Evolved continuously over 2-3hrs that it was enjoyed. I agree that this likely has another 10-15yrs in it. For me, it was drinking at peak, but it will be firing on all cylinders for quite a while.
I’ve had most of these and find ‘89 (and its charming sibling ‘90) at this end of the quality spectrum to be my favorite vintage for current consumption. Great tasting! It seems that many of these have read as younger than I’ve experienced. Magnum influence?
That’s exactly what I was thinking. 86-90 Ducru is sadly a minefield with more misses than hits.
To answer some comments: Besides the Bell Pepper, perhaps a better descriptor thrown by the group on the Lynch was " green olive". We opened all wines 1-1.5 hours before serving each flight. Definitely Magnum size impacting the youth of the wines. Ducru not reconditioned, purchased on release.
The chateau released some after recorking a couple of years ago. They are lovely wines. My experience with the older versions was never great, and reflect the TCA Dale mentions.
Nice notes Jorge. Thanks.
A reconditioned 86 was one of the best wines I had last year - they can be great.