1990 Pape Clement

[Michael-P]

Just thought I'd throw a quick TN on this one from a week ago. Bob gives it a 94 (from a tasting in 2009) but I'd bump it up 1 or 2 points. Generally agree with his TNs, especially meat and smoke, black fruits, pomegranate, stone, nicely balanced, tannins still going strong (just right), with some complexity throughout. The reason for the extra points is the balance and long finish. A yummy wine. Old not updated cellar list shows I might have 2 more, I hope so!

Michael-P

[JoelD]

I had this last year and quite enjoyed it next to a 1989 Leoville Poyferre. I scored the Poyferre a 95 vs a 94 for the 90 Pape.

However I thought that the more structured/mineral driven 1986 Pape Clement was the best of the three. Which is an outlier as I almost always prefer 89/90 over 86.

[DavidK]

A few years ago, I brought a 1990 Pape Clement to a blind 1990 horizontal tasting in Lawrenceville, NJ. It was the only non-classified bottle in an array of about 20. Everyone at the tasting, which included some very well-known Bordeaux collectors, thought that the weakest bottle in the bunch was the Pape Clement. It was far from that, to the surprise of all. I've loved Pepe Clement for decades.

[Nicklasss]

Nice report Michael.

Bought 2 bottles in 2019. One was drank at Thursday night dinner in Denver 2019, and would agree about a truly excellent wine, rating around 94.

The second bottle was opened a few monthe after on 2019, and was even slightly better.

Yes is it ripe and offering a lot, with less elegance and more sheer complex pleasure, but in the context of 1990, i preferred Pape Clément to Lynch Bages or Pichon Lalande or Léoville Barton.