Nose smelled of bitter chocolate initially. Swirl and then there was cedar. Swirl again, spice. Swirl, earth. Swirl, back to cedar. Love it when wines do this. On the palate, nice balanced fruit and acidity. Smooth. A lingering floral aroma aftertaste. So good! Can’t decide which is my current WOTY so far between this or the 1989 Pichon Lalande. Maybe this by a hair but then I remember the elegant red fruit of the Pichon Lalande and how bright ruby it was. Tough call. Delicious. Wish I had more.
Thanks for the note. LOVE this wine. I am a pretty die-hard burg fan these days, but I would drink 90 Pichon Baron or 85 La Mission any day. Those two are evolving spectacularly.
Fred, when it’s on this is showing great pedigree and class. Have you per chance had the '89 recently? It’s another seriously superb PB that’s currently showing even better than the '90!
Had this last night at Troquet ( as is often true, Chris has this on the list for less than the lowest retail price on WS!)
What a sexy, sexy bottle of wine. Hot gravel, tobacco, cayenne, black pepper and supple dark fruit on the nose. Same supple blackberry fruit notes on the attack with just gorgeous pure fruit. Still some tannic structure on the finish, but noticeably softened and partially resolved. Gorgeous tobacco smoke intermingled with the black fruit on the palate as it opened up. Just lovely!
I agree Fred, I get green bell pepper notes in Pichon Lalande quite often and I’ve had quite a few vintages. I much prefer the Pichon Baron over Lalande but I’ve also had some great PLL and I don’t think many people will argue they aren’t extremely well made wines. The green bell pepper notes are a big turn off for me and unfortunately I’ve found them quite often in Angelus as well.
Agree with your note, excellent wine! I HAD several bottles and started drinking them about a year ago and I can’t keep my hands off…only a couple left
When the '90 Pichon Baron is on, it’s pretty great. I’ve had a couple of off bottles of it though, but, that’s wine.
One that is quite inconsistent in my experience is the '86 Mouton Rothschild - of the several times I’ve had it, only 2 bottles were memorable/exceptional, the rest so-so.
