1989 Lynch Bages

The 1989 Lynch Bages remains a monumental achievement, perhaps the exemplar of an estate completely transcending its status. This bottle is consistent with my previous notes: stunning intensity with a cornucopia of black fruit, iodine, graphite and leather. Perhaps the palate is just a tad softer than the bottle tasted at the property a few weeks earlier, but I just adore the manner in which graphite and minerals boss the finish and assert its pedigree. At its (mighty) peak. Tasted at the 1989 Bordeaux dinner at 67 Pall Mall.

The 1989 Lynch-Bages is arguably the pinnacle of a fecund era for the Pauillac estate. The aromatics bowl you over with their intensity and precision, complex and brimming with personality: black fruit laced with graphite and blood orange. It would shade many a First Growth. The palate is medium-bodied with gorgeous, multi-layered black fruit on top of graphite and tobacco with just a faint touch of meat juices towards the entrancing finish. Frankly, there is nothing more that you could wish from a Pauillac that is audacious and utterly charming. Tasted at the château both in bottle and double-magnum formats.

One of the all-time great vintages for this château is the 1989 Lynch-Bages, a striking wine that offers up pure and intense aromas of cassis, pencil shavings, spring flowers and hints of cigar wrapper. Full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, it's seamless and concentrated, with a rich core of fruit, ripe tannins and a beautifully defined finish. Still an infant at age 32, it surpasses all three of Pauillac's first growths in 1989.