Château Margaux 1989

Description

Last tasted October 2022: A wine that makes you rethink the drinking horizon of great wines; there's still plenty of primary fruit here, vibrant even if tertiary complexity is certainly developing nicely, and tannins and acids are in perfect step, harmonious. Refinement and complexity are very near the summit of the imaginable. The plate shows enormous volume but with a texture of pure silk, subtlety meets depth, unfathomable. Endless finish. A wine of sheer and intrinsic beauty. Monumental wine, drinking so well now, though the harmony should see this age gracefully another 20 or 30 years. Score - 99. (John Szabo, MS, winealign.com)

Tasting Notes

This is about as alluring as it gets aromatically, with singed alder, juniper, bay and charcoal notes out front, hinting at power but turning beguiling as they flow into the core of steeped red currant, dried currant and black tea. The charcoal note makes an encore, with a lovely twinge of old-school character holding the finish. Always a great debate vis-à-vis the '90, but the slightly darker profile here gives this wine a lovely bit of extra drama. Non-blind Château Margaux vertical (December 2013). Drink now through 2025. Score - 97. (James Molesworth, winespectator.com, 2014)

Tags

Bordeaux, Bordeaux Red, Medium-bodied & Fruity, Red Wine, Wine, XD - Extra Dry