1989 lynch bages

WINE TALK
1

Can anyone give me some insight on this one. Price, ready to drink, etc…

2

I don’t know about pricing, as I haven’t looked to buy it. But I had a bottle a few years ago and it’s etched in my memory as one of the most enjoyable wines I’ve ever had. Really terrific.

3

Bordeaux enthusiasts consider it one of the greatest LB vintages

4

Terrific wine.

5

Thanks for all your input.

6

It is a great LB. it has been enjoyable for years but I expect it will outlive most of us.

7

The four or five bottles I’ve had from my case purchased on release have all been wonderful. I’m having it again this Tuesday.

8

Each of the four times I have had the pleasure of drinking this wine it was a top wine experience. The last bottle, in June, was lacking a bit of the magic of the first three. I don’t know if that was just this bottle or the wine has peaked.

9

HDH auction was about $317/bottle plus comm for a case. This for excellent provenance.

10

One of the best Pauillacs you will ever taste.

11

It’s a great wine, but the best bottles are still several years away from full maturity.

Bruce

12

A great wine! Either this or the 1990…both terrific.

13

I have had it more than half a dozen times.

There is no doubt that this is a great Lynch. I had some mixed experiences early on, but on the last showing it was superb, edging out Montrose for wine of the flight with Leoville Barton in a 1989 flight.

It is still rather coiled, intense and youthful. The best is yet to come in my view.

This wine is a legend on BWE.

14

I realize that the OP may be asking for thoughts on the 1989 Lynch Bages alone, and so far I agree with the views by most here that it belongs in the upper echelon of that Bordeaux vintage, I’ve been in at least 2 dinner/tastings where both LBages and Montrose were featured, and where the Montrose were declared as “clean” and “good” bottles, and at the end, the excellent performance of the Montrose relegated the good Lynch Bages to an afterthought.

15

In my experience, I would agree with Ian’s comment above – give the '89 some decanter time, or choose the '90 LB instead – it’s currently more on top of it’s game, though the '89 may well outshine it in years to come.

16

Thanks all for your comments.

17

Really great wine. One of the first “wow” wines I ever had when first tasted 4 or 5 years ago.

18

You rang? [grin.gif]

From a month ago on my trip to DC. Only a 2009 Climens and a 2004 Leflaive Pucelles beat it out for WOTN for me.

"1989 Chateau Lynch Bages

Also fine, fine. Bouquet of red fruit, anise and cedar closet. And this is still…soooo young. Incredible grip. Fantastic showing—currant and cassis and pricks of molasses and cinnamon. Still an infant, but such an intricate infant, dynamite in 8-10 more years and will likely outlive us all. #3"

Kevin Shin posted some excellent counterpoint notes.

“Explosive nose of cassis, crushed blackberries, ink, licorice, strong lead pencil and bell pepper, exotic dark spices and earth. Exceptional concentration, intense dark fruit and sweet dark spice driven palate impression, dense chewy yet silky palate, nicely integrated tannins and intense long dark fruit driven finish. Extremely youthful but overabundant intense dark sweet fruit makes this wine very enjoyable. As Bob like to say this is a tour de force. Although extremely enjoyable and incredibly impressive, the overall expression is not terribly complex hence my rating of only 96 pts. (96 pts.)”

See? This isn’t an all bad place. Welcome to the board, Joseph!

a bientot

Mike

19

This wine blew me away when I first tried it on release, my last bottle was about 4-5 years ago. I vividly remember it costing me $40 way back then, and choking on that cost. But I pulled the trigger. Funny that I can more readily afford the price of new LB releases now, but choke on the price even more! I tapped out. More than happy, however, to backfill on mature vintages.

20

I have had the wine twice in 2014. Once was very, very good and the other was lights-out amazing. If I were spending the money, it would easily be for the '89 -vs- '90 LB or any other '89 BDX save Haut Brion.