A group of the London crowd did a tasting of some 1990 Bordeaux at RSJ near Waterloo Station.
To start with:
1989 Château Olivier Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Interesting wine with a light colour and slightly dilute mid palate, it put on weight with the Semillon dominating. Fascinating. Old school. (88 pts.)
On to the main event
1990 Château Pape Clément - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Densely fruited but medium bodied and fragrant, lowish acidity. Fully mature. Superb. (93 pts.)
1990 Château Malescot St. Exupéry - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Latrinal nose and a bit hot and unbalanced on the palate. (85 pts.)
1990 Pavillon Rouge du Château Margaux - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Quite dense and still a little tight, but a good though not very exciting bottle (90 pts.)
1990 La Grange Neuve de Figeac - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru.
Low acid a bit over-ripe, holding up. (85 pts.)
1990 Château Clerc Milon - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Good wine, dense fruits, medium bodied, not enthralling. (89 pts.)
1990 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Super wine and recognisable as Ducru, slight taint on the finish, which gets progressively worse. Previous bottle was stellar. NR
1990 Domaine de Chevalier - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Good wine. Smoke, blackcurrants and some mintiness (90 pts.)
1990 Château Batailley - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Bit bretty, out of sorts and rustic. However it improves in the glass, but not a very polished effort. (85 pts.)
1990 L'Esprit de Chevalier - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Very nice wine and similar to the Grand Vin, just not quite as dense on the mid-palate. (89 pts.)
1990 Château Belair - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Nice and dense but at the same time restrained wine with good breeding, true to the appellation. Old school St-Emilion. (90 pts.)
1990 Château Troplong Mondot - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Porty and spirity, hollow on the palate. A wine which is cracking up and aging badly. Very similar to one we had a few weeks back (70 pts.)
1990 Château Beausejour (Duffau Lagarrosse) - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
This £600 bottle had the Parker score (100) written on the label, which the owner denied having anything to do with. Very weird beefy, soy and black bean notes, like a Chinese takeaway. Or breast implants gone wrong. Or waking up next to Lola (not that it ever happened to me). This bottle was horribly unbalanced and not resembling a Saint Emilion. (80 pts.)
It gives me no pleasure to report on the plight of these hitherto revered wines. I doubt I will ever have the opportunity to try the BDL again.
In extra time
1990 Château Beychevelle - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien. *** (88 pts.)
Atypical for the vintage, elegant, charming, lithe and at most medium bodied. A beautiful wine. (91 pts.)
To finish
1998 Château Rieussec - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
A good showing. Exuberant fruit and decent balancing structure. (90 pts.)
