TN: 1989 Pichon-Longueville Baron

WINE TALK
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Opened and poured off into another wine bottle for sediment about an hour before dinner. Drank with filets and hashbrowns. The wine took awhile to come around and is still fairly youthful with only some secondary flavors peeking. Dark fruit and cedar notes, but overall pretty restrained. If it was “singing” it was with a quiet inside voice. [whistle.gif] The acidity was a little strong at first, but the wine fattened up and came to have a great, somewhat luscious, mouthfeel. Tannins are in a good place to go with a steak and buttered baguette, still a little strong to drink by itself. The bottle had really good provenance and was in great shape, I told my wife that if she didn’t like this, she probably didn’t like Bordeaux.

This was my first real deal aged Bordeaux. The next oldest/best Bordeaux I’ve had was probably the 2000 Tertre. I need to get out more often, my crowd just doesn’t drink Bordeaux.

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Consider me a long-time, huge fan of the '89 Pichon Baron. Really classic stuff with huge structure. I’ve had two this year alone, and still cannot believe how youthful it is. I’m not touching another for 5+ years. It’s still got a way to go and has the stuffing to show even better. Your perception there is similar to mine, though I did not find the acidity too high.

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I think your post kind of frames the debate for Bordeaux. Friend of mine opened a Bordeaux last night. He is about 15 years younger than me. We opened several bottles. Still about 80% of the Bordeaux in the bottle.

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Thanks for the helpful note. I have a pair of these and and pair of the 90 that I’d like to open side by side. I think I’ll wait 5 years before opening the first set.

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Agreed that the '89 PB is a particularly backward bordeaux – more so than most '89 bordeaux I’ve had and less giving that the '90 PB today. It needs 5+ years or a very long decant. The '90 is friendlier right now, but still has plenty of upside . . .

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So what Bordeaux did you guys pop?

That '89 Pichon Baron shows more now in terms of what I want in a wine, than any comparable Cab-blend from any other region that I have tried, including California. And it still has far more to show. I felt that way when I first tried the wine in the early '90s. The 1990 is more showy, as is the 2003.

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1995 Cht. Labegorce - Margaux.

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+1. I haven’t opened one in a while, but it’s still very young and probably a bit “backward” compared to some other 89 Bordeaux.

Bruce

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The 1989 and 1990 PB are incredible wines, very much old school. They’ve got great structure with fabulous fruit, so I don’t believe they’ll get our of sync as they age. These are wines that may not be mature for another 20 years, and then will last in maturity for another 20. Well stored, large format bottles might be providing pleasurable drinking at 100 years old, they’re that solid.

BTW, same holds true for the 1989 and 1990 Montrose. Amazing wines as well.

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A lot of good Bordeaux pairings from those vintages. While Montrose is often near the top of the list, both Angelus and La Conseillante did some real nice things in both years, and I have always liked drinking these pairs side-by-side.

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BTW, I’m going to guess Dusty is primarily a Cali Cab guy - that’s the only way I can figure someone tasting the '89 PB and referring to it as “acidic”.

I, OTOH, drink primarily Nebbiolo & Sangiovese, and it’s almost incomprehensible to me to refer to any Bordeaux as “too acidic” from my palate’s frame of reference - I’m normally complaining about the lack of acidity [cheers.gif] .

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What I really meant is that the acidity stood out compared to the other features of the wine, but this was on PnP and dissipated with time (could’ve also been what we were eating). To give you a sense of my palate, if I could only drink one wine for the rest of my life it would have to be Pinot Noir, but I don’t know if I could choose between Domestic or Burg. I do like Cali Cabs, but lean toward the Mountain stuff with a little more structure and less glop.

Honestly, I might have just been surprised by the acidity because as I said, I’ve never had a Bdx older than 2000. Folks are always talking about how Bdx changed styles throughout the 90’s into the new millennium right?

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I’ve found that many big reds with some age, not just Bordeaux, exhibit an initial blast of some acid. As an example, I opened a magnum of 2001 Twomey Merlot on Saturday (tasting note can be found here) and my initial taste and whiff was a little acidic. But there was a good fruit base as well. I double decanted the wine two hours later and there was no sign of the acid at all.

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