Tasting Notes
Robert Parker 97
One of the wines of the vintage, the 1989 Pichon-Longueville Baron is drinking beautifully today. Bursting from the glass with aromas of ripe blackcurrants, plums, Cuban cigar, loamy soil, black truffles and burning embers, it’s medium to full-bodied, rich and enveloping, with powdery tannins and a concentrated core of fruit. Fleshy and dramatic, with a sumptuous, low-acid profile and a long, expansive finish, to my palate this is the one 1989 Pauillac that, on a good day, can rival the extraordinary 1989 Lynch Bages. While I tend to think it’s at its peak, every bottle I open from my cellar in Beaune seems to be better than the last.
Anticipated maturity: 2009-2035
Vinous 95
The 1989 Pichon-Baron repeats its performance from the vertical tasting in May 2018. It storms from the glass, bearing copious blackberry, cedar and perhaps a little more mint than I noticed on the previous bottle. There is so much youthful zeal to this harmonious, refined Pauillac that you would barely guess it is 30 years old. Long and tender with a graphite-infused finish, this bottle might be even better than the ex-château example. Tasted at the 1989 Bordeaux dinner at Hatched in London.
Anticipated maturity: 2019-2038
JancisRobinson.com 18.5
Stunning wine, one of the very best 1989s. Rich blackish crimso with a rich nose that is still very sweet and fraggrant. But the wine is lovely and refreshing too. Almost mintily and aromatic. This stands up well to comparison with the first growths. Bravo! (It was served blind alongside Ch Lynch Bages 1989 which was made by the same man, Daniel Lhose.
Anticipated maturity: 2000-2024
