A mixed bag of 1990 Bordeaux

[Comte Flaneur]

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 $1000 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.)

[Michael Malinoski]

Hah, I will have to try to work "latrinal" into my lexicon for wine tasting notes in the future (actually, I hope not!)!

Thanks for the really interesting take on a vintage I have experienced very little of myself (maybe 10 bottles in total across all of the Bordeaux communes). One thing I can say, however, is that I agree with you 100% on the 1990 Troplong Mondot. Here is my note from 3 years ago, but I've read a whole lot of similar criticisms of that wine over the past few years:

1990 Château Troplong Mondot St. Emilion. This wine smells rather roasty, treacled and overdone to me. It gives off big aromas of kirsch, fruit cake and prunes that seem like they are from a rather warm vintage or perhaps from a damaged bottle (or both). On the palate, it is warm and ridiculously rich, with lots of slightly-cloying sweet chunky fruit that feels too fat and blowsy to me. It turns coarse and leathery and unappealing toward the back of the mouth, with lots of bitter smoke notes and ticklish tannins converging there. This is disappointing.

Thanks again.
-Michael

[Blanquito]

Sounds a little disappointing, Ian.

Like Michael, I haven't had lots of 1990 Bordeaux, but I really love the good ones: Montrose, Cos, Sociando, La Conseillante, Louviere rouge (surprisingly good and going strong), Rausan-Segla, Vieux Château Certan...

Sauternes can be out of sight in 1990, but many won't last too much longer at their current peak (whereas the good '88 stickies are just being to strut their stuff), though that 1990 d'Yquem we had at Fabio's is likely to last forever...

[JimHow]

You know my position on 1990... Overrated.

[Houndsong]

Latrinal. With or without sanitizing cake? It makes a difference, you know.

Only had a couple of 1990s, small fry at that, but they were for the most pretty good. The Giscours was disappointing but not in a conspicuously hot vintage way. It was just kind of light and insubstantial.

[stefan]

Gosh, almost all the 1990s I have drunk have been at least very good. Lagrange hit a home run for its classification. La Lagune is excellent, as is Pape Clement. Clerc Milon is very good (but I agree with Ian that it is not enthralling; D'Armailhac is better). Trotanoy is excellent. Cos is excellent. Etc, etc, etc.

[Blanquito]

Lagrange hit a home run for its classification.

Ah yes, another 1990 I really enjoyed...

But some big names really fumbled the vintage, at least in my experience... Pichon Lalande, Mouton, Leoville Las Cases, and some others. Maybe more hit and miss (a latrinally appropriate metaphor, methinks) than the greatest vintages?

[stefan]

Yeah, Pichon Lalande is weak; good at best. I haven't tasted Mouton or LLC, or maybe I blanked the experiences.

[Tom In DC]

Most of the heavy hitters "punched at or above their weight" in 1990. I wouldn't decline a pour of Lafite, Latour, Margaux, Haut Brion, Ausone, Cheval Blanc, Petrus, or many, many others. And it was a year where many of the less exalted made very good wine, perhaps also "punching above their weight."

[hautbrionlover]

This post is killing me.
I had bought several half bottles of the '90 Troplong Mondot way back when, and drank all but one a long time ago.
I loved it so much, that i didn't want to drink that last half bottle. Sounds like i "saved" it for too long.
Darn!

[AlexR]

Ian,

Thanks for your notes!

1990 L'Esprit de Chevalier - You wrote "Very nice wine and similar to the Grand Vin, just not quite as dense on the mid-palate"
That made me smile because that wine will have cost about what three cans of Coke cost today...

1990 Château Belair - This wine is frequently maligned, but I'm glad you picked up on its "old school" qualities, which I ascribe mostly to the terroir.

1990 Château Troplong Mondot - Yes, this wine is frequently OTT. It is now a Premier GCC... Firmly in the high-alcohol league.

1990 Château Beausejour (Duffau Lagarrosse) - OMG, the Parker score (100) was written on the label! I ask you: how tacky can you get?
Above, you were praised for your imaginative use of the word "latrinal". I also tip my hat to "breast implants gone wrong".

All the best,
Alex

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks Alex the one I was really trying to make an impression with was 'waking up with Lola'...but on to a more general discussion, while these wines were mixed, at age 22 we are well into the realms of 'only good bottles' - Ducru being a case in point. Untainted bottles are superb. The person who was suppposed to bring Gruaud Larose unfortunately had to drop out. Tuesday's tasting did not really change my impression of the vintage, which is generally favourable but heat and low acidity are hallmarks, evident in wines like LLC (atypical for LLC) and Lynch Bages. I agree with what Tom and others who say that some punched above their weight and some below their weight. Mouton and Pichon Lalande fall into the latter category. However I still remember that astonishing bottle of Latour we had BWE '12 in San Francisco and Chateau Margaux is virtually peerless. Lots of strong wines on the right bank too, like Conseilllante.

[Claudius2]

Guys
Have heard so much crap about the Troplong Mondot I actually sent the full case I had off to auction.
So I'll wait for someone to post notes on my case in Australia!

Interestingly, I was never that mad on the 90 Beychevelle.
It seemed over-cropped to me - a bit dilute in the middle palate and a touch of green - the 88 and 89 wer denser and more complex.
Bought 6 bottles and 1 magnum on release and gave away the magnum as an anniversary present some yrs ago.
6 bottles all gone now.

As for the 90 Mouton and PLL, I think both were relative failures.
The 90 PLL was to my palate a shock at a blind tasting. Ive had their second wine (Reserve Comtesse) that has tasted better.
Not tried since 2000 but I saw no upside then. yet it was a simple, rather plain wine when young and I tried it on multiple occasions and it was no better.

The 90 Mouton was a lot better than the PLL and maybe a bit maligned.
It just isn;t in first growth territory that yr - not the power and complexity expected.
Yet I have not had it for many yrs and can't vouch for its development.