WTN: 1989 Bordeaux at Bobby Vans

A good group got together last night at Bobby Van’s Grill for another look at 1989 Bordeaux. I enjoyed a warm spinach salad and shared a porterhouse.

Starter was the 2010 Meyer-Fonne “Kaefferkopf’ Riesling Grand Cru
served a bit warm, rich, honied, a bit soft and formless, but that might have been temp, but for me last night B-/C+

We knew the wines, and Ben arranged in flights when he bagged, but we didn’t know what was in each flight. These are my scores while blind, I think I was being extra conservative.

Flight 1
Wine A- Sweet, full, a little blocky next to Wine C, but only in comparison- I liked. B+
1989 Ch.Pichon Baron.

Wine B - quite muted at first, opens a bit, quite soft, some cassis but short on finish. B-
1989 Ch.Lynch Bages

Wine C - at first sniff I thought corked, but that completely disappeared, leaving behind a funky/herbal complex nose. Fresh, full, and got my vote for WOTN. A-
1989 Ch.Pichon Lalande

I think everyone was surprised at showing of the Lynch, though I’ve had variable bottles (though this didn’t seem cooked)

Flight 2 I liked one more than 2, thought this was Angelus and Tertre-R . Whoops!

Wine A- Plush, friendly, hint of animal, complex. A-/B+
1989 Ch.Montrose

Wine B - a bit hard, some wood, stern though ripe. B
1989 Ch.Cos d'Estournel

Flight 3
Wine A- a little kirsch, wood, merlot-y, but with long finish B/B+
1989 Ch. Palmer

Wine B - Fleshy, ripe, full, easy.B+
1989 Ch. Leoville Las Cases

Flight4
Wine A - at first I didn’t think this was corked, then it developed swimming pool aromas, then real cardboard,. Too bad, seemed nice underneath.
1989 Ch. La Conseillante

Wine B- balanced, full, fresh, black cherry and plum, leather., B+/A-
1989 Ch. L’Evangile

Wine C - leathery, earth, less giving than wine B but I liked. B+
1989 Vieux Chateau Certan

Flight 5
Wine A -corked, damn!
1989 Ch. l’Angelus

Wine B - a bit roasted, jammy/plummy, mature. B/B-
1989 Ch. Tertre Roteboeuf

Tighter voting than usual. We did our usual 3 points for favorite, 2 for second, 1 for third, ended up a very tight race. The wines that got votes
13 pts Montrose and Palmer
12 pts Pichon Lalande and LLC
8 pts Pichon Baron
2 pts L’Evangile

There was also a non-blind finisher
1989 Cauhape “Quintessence du Petit Manseng” Jurancon
Apricot, wool, quince, moderately sweet, nice. B+
Good night, and I caught a comparatively early train

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Thanks for the notes Dale.

What vintage will it be next week??

This is possibly my favourite vintage, so always eager to read progress reports.

Shame about Conseillante Angelus and Lynch!

We had an outstanding example of LB in June, and it pipped a Montrose and a very good Leoville-Barton. I am not as big a fan of that wine as some people..

In my opinion Cos 1989 has come on very strong in the last few years, just as Cos 1990 comes across as a bit flabby, but it could be bottle variation.

But outside of the first growths Cos would probably be my favourite wine on the left bank in 1989 and Conseillante on the right.

Angelus I would describe as an "all mouth and trousers" kind of wine.

[David M. Bueker]

That's a rather unimpressive showing for a set of potentially impressive wines.

Ian, doing 1979 claret next Tues (and then no Bdx horizontals in sight)!

There was a last minute cancellation, and Ramon heroically got the Montrose there, but that and the Cos were last minutes pulls and obviously shaken, though the Montrose showed well.

David, as noted those were my grades from when wines were blind. There were quite a few (both Pichons, Palmer, Montrose, Evangile) that I thought improved with air, those should have been bumped a bit, but I was trying to be consistent, and didn't retaste all.

Shame about the 3 that didn't show well..I have had terrific bottles of the 89 La C, Angelus and Lynch B..Looks like you had better luck with the 89 LLC than we did, our last bottle took forever to open up and wasn't all that rewarding..The Cos and Montrose 89's have been very kind to me..wish I had more left, glad that I still have some left.

Hi Dale,
Is this a “formal tasting” (one flight at a time, wines only) or do you have twelve glasses in front of you as you are enjoying your porterhouse steak and warm spinach salad?

Salute

As noted, in flights. At restaurants food comes when it comes.

Dale, earlier in the year you liked the 89 Cos a lot more in the mid-level 1989 event than in this tasting:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=50219&p=412281&hilit=1989+cos+estournel#p412281

Was it a better bottle in February or was the 89 Cos less impressive this time mainly due to tougher competition? I ask partially because I seeing the 89 Cos floating around at much more reasonable prices than most high-end 1989s. Your February notes say "buy" to me, these new notes say "pass".

Patrick, I'm sure primary reason is my palate inconsistency!

But besides bottle condition & competition, I suspect the main difference is ....air. We have a split opinion group, I'm in the double-decant camp. The person who brought the Cos didn't decant (and as it was a last minute addition it probably was late pull). Previous Cos was Ben who I believe decanted.