Red Bordeaux

This wine has always been an attractive, fragrant, classic Pauillac with scents of cedar, spice, and berry fruit. Although not the most concentrated wine from the appellation, it is a medium-bodied, elegant example of the vintage. The Wine Advocate.

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'One of the all-time great Ducrus, probably matched or eclipsed by several recent vintages (i.e., 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008). The 1982 is still 5-8 years away from full maturity, but it exhibits a dense ruby/plum/garnet color to the rim as well as a sweet perfume of forest floor, spice box, cedar, and copious quantities of black fruits. Medium to full-bodied and beautifully pure with sweet tannins, this wine has aged more slowly than I initially expected. It is the finest Ducru Beaucaillou produced after the 1961 and before the 2003.' - Robert Parker

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'This wine remains one of the legends of Bordeaux. It has thrown off the backward, youthful style that existed during its first 25 years of life, and over the last 4-5 years has developed such secondary nuances as cedar and spice box. The creme de cassis, underlying floral note, full-bodied power, extraordinary purity, multilayered texture, and finish of over a minute are a showcase for what this Chateau accomplished in 1982. The wine is still amazingly youthful, vibrant, and pure. It appears capable of remaining fruity and vibrant in 2082! Thank God it is beginning to budge, as I would like to drink most of my supply before I kick the bucket. This is a great, still youthful wine, and, on occasion, one does understand the hierarchy of Bordeaux chateaux when you see the complexity and brilliance of this first-growth. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2050+' - Robert Parker

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'As I have noted consistently, this can be a breathtaking wine, but having tasted it close to a dozen times since the last edition of this book, over half the bottles were marred by tainted corks. In fact, one would almost wonder if there was TCA problem in part of the wine storage area. The percentage of corked half-bottles is even higher than in the regular format. However, when clean this 1983, which has seemingly reached full maturity far faster than I would have guessed a mere four years ago, has a dense, murky plum/purple color and a gorgeous nose of smoked herbs, damp earth, mushrooms, and sweet creme de cassis intermixed with vanilla and violets The wine is medium to full-bodied, deep, rich, and powerful, with sweet tannins and loads of fruit concentration. Anticipated maturity: Now-2020.' - Robert Parker

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'The 1985 Lafite is revealing more class and complexity than I predicted. A moderately intense, cedary, woody, herb and berry-scented bouquet is attractive. The wine is open-knit and ripe, with fine tannins, sweet, medium-bodied, mineral, and cassis-scented flavors, fine depth, and a graceful, harmonious feel. It is beginning to blossom and appears to possess more depth and character than I had thought.' - Robert Parker

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'The 1986 Leoville-Las Cases, which Delon continues to believe is his finest vintage in the eighties (even eclipsing the 1982), still exhibits a black/purple color with no signs of age. The nose offers up aromas of exceptionally ripe cassis fruit intertwined with scents of vanillin, minerals, and spices. The wine is full-bodied, exceptionally well-delineated, and phenomenally concentrated. Still unevolved and youthful, this is one of the most profound Leoville-Las-Cases, but for my palate, it remains a notch behind both the 1982 and 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2030. Last tasted 3/97' - Robert Parker

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'After stumbling over some wines I thought were high class Bordeaux, I nailed this wine in one of the blind tastings for this article. In most tastings where a great Bordeaux is inserted with California Cabernets, the Bordeaux comes across as drier, more austere, and not nearly as rich and concentrated (California wines are inevitably fruitier and more massive). To put it mildly, the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild held its own (and then some), in a flight that included the Caymus Special Selection, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23, Dunn Howell Mountain, and Joseph Phelps Eisele Vineyard. Clearly the youngest looking, most opaque and concentrated wine of the group, it tastes as if it has not budged in development since I first tasted it out of barrel in March, 1987. An enormously concentrated, massive Mouton-Rothschild, comparable in quality, but not style, to the 1982, 1959, and 1945, this impeccably made wine is still in its infancy. Interestingly, when I was in Bordeaux several years ago, I had this wine served to me blind from a magnum that had been opened and decanted 48 hours previously. Even then, it still tasted like a barrel sample! I suspect the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild requires a minimum of 15-20 more years of cellaring; it has the potential to last for 50-100 years! Given the outrageously high prices being fetched by so many of the great 1982s and 1990s (and lest I forget, the 1995 Bordeaux futures), it appears this wine might still be one of the "relative bargains" in the fine wine marketplace. I wonder how many readers will be in shape to drink it when it does finally reach full maturity?
The tasting notes for this section are from two single blind tastings, one conducted in May, 1996, in California, and the other in June, 1996, in Baltimore.' - Robert Parker

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"The 1988 Pichon-Baron promises to be one of the half-dozen superstars of the Medoc in that vintage. While it may not rival the 1989, its significantly lower price makes it a wine that should appeal to those who want an excellent bargain in a great Pauillac from a good vintage. Surprisingly large-scaled for a 1988, it is deep in color, rich, tannic, and medium to full-bodied. When mature, it may resemble the successful 1966 (similar texture, weight, and character)." - Robert Parker

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The best showing yet for a wine from this under-rated vintage, the dark garnet-colored 1988 Latour reveals slight amber at the edge. A bouquet of melted tar, plums, black currants, cedar, and underbrush is followed by a sweet entry, with medium to full body, excellent ripeness, and mature tannin. It is a classic, elegant Latour with more meaty, vegetable-like flavors than are found in a riper year, such as 1989 and 1990. The 1988 has just begun to enter its plateau of maturity, where it should remain for 25 years. Wine Advocate.

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'A strict selection, the use of 40% new oak, and an extended maceration have produced a rich, full-bodied 1989 that offers both power and finesse. Deep ruby/purple, with gobs of red and black fruits in its aroma, this concentrated, impressively structured wine will prove to be a crowd pleaser. It is the finest Phelan-Segur I have ever tasted.' - Robert Parker

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'I have always enjoyed the 1989 La Lagune. At first I thought it was marginally superior to the 1990, but they are essentially equivalent in quality, although the 1989 possesses less fat, and a more ruggedly tannic structure. The color is a healthy dark ruby, and the wine offers up a smoky, sweet vanillin, jammy berry-scented nose with aromas of weedy tobacco. The wine is medium-bodied, with excellent purity and richness, and gobs of red and black currant fruit nicely dosed with new oak. The wine's grip is more noticeable than in the 1990, and the finish more attenuated, but still impressively long.' - Robert Parker

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'When I first tasted the 1989 Grand-Puy-Lacoste in this blind tasting I thought it possessed a Graves-like tobacco/mineral character. In contrast to the blockbuster, full-blown, massive wines produced by this estate in 1990 and 1982, the medium-weight 1989 is elegant, spicy, evolved, and already revealing plenty of cedar and cassis fruit. A delicious, generously-endowed, low acid wine, it will offer mature drinking now and over the next 12-15 years.' - Robert Parker

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"Potensac's 1990 is almost as good as their 1989. It is deeply colored, with plenty of body, an attractive, pure, curranty, earthy nose, medium to full body, a classic structure, and a long finish." - Robert Parker

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'The 1990 offers a forward, smoky, sweet oaky nose intertwined with bold and lavish aromas of blackcurrants. Medium-bodied, with low acidity, light tannins, and layers of ripe fruit, this finesse-styled wine should provide superlative drinking for more than a decade. It is the finest Haut-Batailley since 1982.' - Robert Parker

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The 1990 d'Armailhac is dark ruby/purple, with an expressive nose of smoked nuts, cassis, smoke, and chocolate, this velvety textured, round, agreeable wine lacks structure and length on the palate. It is charming, but less concentrated than the 1989.

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Once again this estate revealed its excellent quality/price ratio. As one taster so appropriately stated after learning the identity of both the 1989 and 1990 Sociando-Mallets, "I'd rather have the '89 or '90 Sociando-Mallet than the '89 Margaux or '90 Mouton in my cellar." Both wines showed surprisingly well, performing at second or third-growth levels. The 1990 appears to be the finest Sociando-Mallet since the sensational 1982. The wine possesses an opaque purple color, and a tight but promising nose of thick, cassis, blackcurrant fruit, subtle roasted herbs, smoke, licorice, and minerals. Powerful, super-concentrated, and backward, with layers of flavor and high tannin, this striking wine should evolve for 2-3 decades. The Wine Advocate.

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'This wine has always tasted superb. Still a dark purple/garnet color, it offers an exotic bouquet of roasted coffee, caramelized herbs, sweet cassis, blackberries, chocolate, and licorice. The explosive bouquet is followed by a low acid, full-bodied, chewy wine with sweet tannin and ripe, jammy fruit and glycerin. It hit its peak of maturity 4-5 years ago, but is holding nicely. Consume it over the next 5-6 years.Release price: ($375.00/case)' - Robert Parker

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'A sensational wine that has developed exceptionally well, this dense, saturated, garnet/purple-colored wine has a super nose of smoke, camphor, mineral, black currant, and blueberry. The oak seems to take a backseat to the wealth of fruit and mineral notes. In the mouth it is full-bodied, with high but ripe tannin, wonderful sweetness, extract, high levels of glycerin, and relatively low acidity. It is a wine of great character, richness, complexity, as well as multiple dimensions. Anticipated maturity: Now-2015.' - Robert Parker

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