TN 1988 Beychevelle

[Houndsong]

I like this wine more with each bottle. This has good concentration of flavor while at the same time sporting a lithe, ethereal mouthfeel. This has a little bit of funk and a some heavily weathered oak to go along with a nice pungent cabernet bouquet.

While I have always appreciated the kinder, gentler aspects of mature claret, it's especially so when your diet consists mainly of younger wines, and many of them from vintages of the century. This wine pleases without shouting, "look at me!"

[Houndsong]

This wine definitely makes one reconsider the Max Extract principle of the modern era.

[Blanquito]

Never had the 88, but recent bottles of the 83, 85, 86 and 89 have all impressed a lot.

Seems like Beychevelle was underrated in the 80's by you know who...

[Ramon_NYC]

Don't recall having had the '88. But also liked the '86 and '89.

[salilb]

Old Beychevelle can be glorious. Opened two bottles of the '66 in the last few months, both outstanding. Sounds like I should look for some of the mid 80s vintages.

[JimHow]

The 1982 is really something.

[DavidG]

My first Beychevelle was the '82. Had a couple of bottles purchased on release and both were underwhelmimg, creating a poor first impression. Probably not fair as one bottle was drunk way too soon and I also had suspicions that both had seen too much heat before they got to me.

[Claudius2]

Guys
Not had the 88 for some years but I always rated it highly and it was a solid and tasty wine even young. One of the better 88's and I think the best Beychevelle from the 80s. 88 has been an under-ratd vintage in my mind.

[Blanquito]

1983 is probably the most under-rated vintage in the 80's, based on my experiences. I've had lots of very solid 1988s (in all senses of the word), but a bevy of 83s have been excellent-to-thrilling over the last few years: Canon, Evangile, Beychevelle, Gruaud Larose, Lynch Bages, Pichon Lalande, LLC, Talbot, Cos...

[JimHow]

We had a 1982 Bechevelle years back with Jacques, AKR, PappaDoc, that other young kid who was at Zachy's for a while was there, what was his name, we were at a restaurant towards lower Manhattan. It was a stunner, my WOTN up against some stiff competition.