TN: 1990 Leoville Barton

[billfgrady]

Friday night, with strip steaks, we had 1990 LeoB. The bottle was uncorked and decanted about an hour before dinner. The bouquet was incredible, right from the start. By the time it was poured into glasses an hour later, it was SINGING. In fact, you could smell it half way across the room. On the nose, I detected licorice, pencil, fruit, you name it. It was only moderately tannic, which came as quite a surpise to most of us. Despite nearly 20 years, I guess we all expected this to only be coaxing into adolescence. It is possible that this bottle was further along in its evolution than most, as I bought it at an auction about 10 years ago and it was of unknown provenance. That being said, we caught this at absolutely the right time. This was one of the best examples of mature Bordeaux that I have had in recent years (the other being an 1983 Palmer several years ago). Really nice wine.

[JimHow]

Nice! I had this once, about ten years ago, from a magnum I bought at Martignetti's Liquors, their North End store in Boston. I paid $90, incredibly, for the magnum. I remember we had it at a family gathering on a Sunday afternoon. It was indeed a tannic bruiser back then but even back then you could foresee the great potential of this wine. Thanks for the report!

[hautbrionlover]

I love the the '90 Leoville Barton. Only had 1 bottle of a half case I bought on release, and I think it has probably not yet peaked, but it is indeed a first class wine.
I also happen to love the '83 Palmer - which is among my favorite wines of all time - but I have found that to be a much more mature wine than the '90 LB.

[stefan]

Sounds very good and more mature than the '89 Leoville Barton.

stefan