Wine List

This huge wine is, in many ways, just as massive as Leoville Barton, but it possesses a greater degree of elegance as well as unreal concentration.

100 Points, Drink Date 2003 - 2035, Reviewed by Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Still stubbornly backward, yet beginning to budge from its pre-adolescent stage, this dense, murky ruby/purple-colored wine offers up notes of graphite, sweet caramel, black cherry jam, cassis, and minerals. The nose takes some coaxing, and the decanting of 2-4 hours prior to service is highly recommended. For such a low acid wine, it is huge, well-delineated, extremely concentrated, and surprisingly fresh. Perhaps because I lean more toward the hedonistic view of wine than the late Michel Delon, I have always preferred this to the 1986, but the truth is that any lover of classic Medoc should have both vintages in their cellar. This wine has monstrous levels of glycerin, extract, and density, but still seems very youthful, and tastes more like a 7 to 8-year-old Bordeaux than one that is past its twentieth birthday. A monumental effort. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2035. Last tasted, 9/02.

This huge wine is, in many ways, just as massive as Leoville Barton, but it possesses a greater degree of elegance as well as unreal concentration.

100 Points, Drink Date 2003 - 2035, Reviewed by Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Still stubbornly backward, yet beginning to budge from its pre-adolescent stage, this dense, murky ruby/purple-colored wine offers up notes of graphite, sweet caramel, black cherry jam, cassis, and minerals. The nose takes some coaxing, and the decanting of 2-4 hours prior to service is highly recommended. For such a low acid wine, it is huge, well-delineated, extremely concentrated, and surprisingly fresh. Perhaps because I lean more toward the hedonistic view of wine than the late Michel Delon, I have always preferred this to the 1986, but the truth is that any lover of classic Medoc should have both vintages in their cellar. This wine has monstrous levels of glycerin, extract, and density, but still seems very youthful, and tastes more like a 7 to 8-year-old Bordeaux than one that is past its twentieth birthday. A monumental effort. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2035. Last tasted, 9/02.

As this wine sat in the glass aerating, I began having some doubts about whether it merited a low-90s point score. I think it does, but the fact that it deteriorated more quickly than some of its siblings (even those from more challenging vintages) gave me pause. Nevertheless, I have to assume that most people will decant all of these wines (as I did) and consume them within an hour of opening. On that basis, this 1985 is clearly a low-90 point wine. The problem is that for the most part, 1985 does not have that extra level of concentration possessed by the great vintages. However, it offers a softness to go along with the fragility of the wines as most 1985s, including this La Mission-Haut-Brion, are fully mature. A dark plum/garnet color reveals a pinkish lightening at the edge, and the bouquet reveals plenty of smoke, camphor, charcoal, graphite, sweet kirsch and blacker fruit aromas intermixed with meaty, sauteed mushroom, cedar and spicy notes. The lovely aromatics are followed by flavors that do not quite match the intensity of the bouquet, a sign of a fully mature wine. This medium-bodied effort has plenty of glycerin, low acidity and not a trace of tannin. While not terribly generous, it is a soft, round, charming, delicious, very good La Mission, but not a great one. Drink it over the next decade.

Score: 92 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (202), August 2012

Score: 88 Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book (4), December 2003

Score: 87 Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book (3), November 1998

Score: 88 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (129), June 2000

This wine was tasted from my personal collection, following the Latour tasting. The 1985 Latour is a soft, open-knit example, without much structure, delineation, and depth. The dark ruby color displays amber at the edge. The bouquet of tobacco, black fruits, herbs, earth, and new oak is pleasant, but neither intense nor persistent. The wine is medium-bodied, with sweet fruit on the attack, but it narrows out to reveal dry tannin and herbaceous notes. Anticipated maturity: now-2012.

Score: 88 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (129), April 2000

Score: 94 James Suckling, Wine Spectator, August 2000

Almost as great as the 1982. Dense and luscious with amazingly deep plum, blackberry and chocolate aromas and flavors. Full-bodied and full tannins. A wine with a terrific future. Try after 1998.--The Bordeaux 50. (JS) 95points

  James Suckling, Wine Spectator

Served from ex-chateau magnum at Taillevent. This ’85 Domaine de Chevalier is a respectable offering for the vintage. It has a ripe, fleshy, soft, almost Burgundian nose that I personally find more attractive than the ’83. Good purite and sense of terroir here. The palate is full-bodied with ripe, supple tannins and more glycerin than noticeable in other vintages. Silky smooth in texture but very good weight with a hint of black truffle on the harmonious finish that would benefit from a little more length. But overall: very attractive, if not profound. Drink now-2015. Tasted September 2009. NM 

Still tasting like a barrel sample, the 1986 Mouton Rothschild is a monumental Bordeaux that will undoubtedly outlive anybody alive today. Amazingly youthful, with a dense purple color, it is an extraordinary wine that should age for a century or more. Tasted blind, I would have guessed it to be a 2-3 year old first-growth Bordeaux.

Score: 100 Robert Parker, Hedonists Gazette, February 2006

Score: 100 Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book (4), December 2003

An enormously concentrated, massive Mouton Rothschild, comparable in quality, but not style, to the 1982, 1959, and 1945, this impeccably made wine is still in its infancy.....I suspect the 1986 Mouton Rothschild requires a minimum of 15-20 more years of cellaring; it has the potential to last for 50-100 years!...A compelling wine! Last tasted, 3/98.

Score: 100 Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book (3), November 1998

After stumbling over some wines I thought were high class Bordeaux, I nailed this wine in one of the blind tastings for this article. In most tastings where a great Bordeaux is inserted with California Cabernets, the Bordeaux comes across as drier, more austere, and not nearly as rich and concentrated (California wines are inevitably fruitier and more massive). To put it mildly, the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild held its own (and then some), in a flight that included the Caymus Special Selection, Stags Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23, Dunn Howell Mountain, and Joseph Phelps Eisele Vineyard. Clearly the youngest looking, most opaque and concentrated wine of the group, it tastes as if it has not budged in development since I first tasted it out of barrel in March, 1987. An enormously concentrated, massive Mouton-Rothschild, comparable in quality, but not style, to the 1982, 1959, and 1945, this impeccably made wine is still in its infancy. Interestingly, when I was in Bordeaux several years ago, I had this wine served to me blind from a magnum that had been opened and decanted 48 hours previously. Even then, it still tasted like a barrel sample! I suspect the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild requires a minimum of 15-20 more years of cellaring; it has the potential to last for 50-100 years! Given the outrageously high prices being fetched by so many of the great 1982s and 1990s (and lest I forget, the 1995 Bordeaux futures), it appears this wine might still be one of the "relative bargains" in the fine wine marketplace. I wonder how many readers will be in shape to drink it when it does finally reach full maturity? Drink 2011 - 2096

Score: 100 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (106), August 1996

The 1986 Mouton-Rothschild is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot that was picked from 2 October until 16 October. Winemaker Philippe Dhalluin, who was not working at the property back then, told me that the pH was fairly low at 3.54 when it is usually around 3.75, due to the natural tartaric acid in the vines. It has a powerful and intense bouquet as always: exemplary graphite and cedar scents, a touch of black pepper and incense. It seems to unfurl in the glass, like a motor revving its engine. The palate is beautifully balanced with its trademark firm tannic structure, a Mouton-Rothschild with backbone and masculinity. Layers of black fruit intermingling with mint and graphite, a hint of licorice emanating from the Merlot, gently fanning out and my God, it is incredibly long. It is not like the 1985 Mouton-Rothschild that is so fleshy and generous. This is serious, aristocratic Mouton, a true vin de garde and yes, I do think drinkers will have to wait until it reaches its true peak. Sometimes that's just the way it is. Tasted September 2016.

Score: 100 Neal Martin, Wine Advocate (228), December 2016

Parker The 1986 possesses outstanding richness, a deep color, medium body, a graceful, harmonious texture, and superb length. The penetrating fragrance of cedar, chestnuts, minerals, and rich fruit is a hallmark of this wine. Powerful, dense, rich, and tannic, as well as medium to full-bodied, with awesome extraction of fruit, this Lafite has immense potential. Patience is required. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2030

The 1986 possesses outstanding richness, a deep color, medium body, a graceful, harmonious texture, and superb length. The penetrating fragrance of cedar, chestnuts, minerals, and rich fruit is a hallmark of this wine. Powerful, dense, rich, and tannic, as well as medium to full-bodied, with awesome extraction of fruit, this Lafite has immense potential. Patience is required. (Taken from the Bordeaux Book, 3rd Edition)

Score: 100

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate Maturity: 2000-203001 January 1998

The 1986 possesses outstanding richness, a deep color, medium body, a graceful, harmonious texture, and superb length. The penetrating fragrance of cedar, chestnuts, minerals, and rich fruit is a hallmark of this wine. Powerful, dense, rich, and tannic, as well as medium to full-bodied, with awesome extraction of fruit, this Lafite has immense potential. Patience is required.

Score: 100

Robert Parker, 'Bordeaux' 3rd Ed. Maturity: 2000-203001 January 1998

Rating

87

Release Price

$28

Drink Date

2000 - 2020

Reviewed by

Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Issue Date

23rd Aug 1993

Source

88, The Wine Advocate

The 1988 has an intriguing bouquet of exotic spices and black fruits. Although it has softened up since bottling, it remains a hard-edged, tannic, austere wine that requires patience. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2020. Last tasted, 7/93.

Rating

86?

Release Price

NA

Drink Date

2016 - 2018

Reviewed by

Neal Martin

Issue Date

29th Jul 2016

Source

Interim End of July, The Wine Advocate

The 1989 Ducru Beaucaillou has an unenviable reputation as a hit 'n miss wine, since this was the period when the château suffered a TCA infection in the roof. This bottle seemed to have been affected, but perhaps that diverts you from this rather humdrum Ducru compared to recent spectacular vintages courtesy of Bruno Borie. The nose is staid and lacks fruit concentration in the context of the vintage, dusty and smudged. The palate is medium-bodied with dry tannin, somehow hollow and shallow with a very one-dimensional finish that doesn't exactly leave you begging for another sip. If you want to play Russian roulette, then go for the 1989, though personally I would prefer to drink any vintage from the last decade. Tasted April 2016.

The 1989 Lafleur, tasted side by side with the 1990 on two occasions in 2002, plays it closer to the vest. The wine needs far more coaxing to produce the licorice, black cherry liqueur, earth, and truffle notes from the nose. In the mouth, the wine is full-bodied, tannic, backward, and very tightly knit, with mouth-searing levels of tannin and extremely high extract. The tannins are firmer, the fruit seemingly less sweet, but still extremely ripe, and the evolutionary process is far slower in the 1989 than the 1990. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2045. Last tasted, 8/02.

This wine continues to lose out to its younger sibling, the 1990. Aromatically, the dark garnet (some amber is beginning to creep in at the edge) 1989 seems fully mature until it hits the palate. There is big, spicy, cedary, sweet cherry and black currant fruit, along with some tobacco notes in the impressive aromatics. On the palate, the wine is more narrowly constructed, medium-bodied, with excellent richness on the attack but then some relatively dry, dusty tannins in the finish. This kind of performance tends to suggest the wine needs to be drunk sooner rather than later. Anticipated maturity: Now-2016. Last tasted, 9/01.

A great Angélus and one of the two or three best wines of the vintage made under the talented young Hubert de Bouard, this wine still has a youthful, saturated ruby/purple color and a sweet nose of melted licorice intermixed with crème de cassis, tapenade, cedar, spice box, and vanilla. Very full-bodied, opulent, and rich, it is one of the 1989s that justifies the lofty reputation of the vintage. Extremely thick, this wine can be drunk now or cellared for at least another 10-15 years.

Score: 96 Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book (4), December 2003

The 1989 possesses a huge finish, with more noticeable tannin than in the 1990. Picking a favorite between these two fabulous examples of their respective vintages is - for me - presently impossible. I will probably end up drinking the 1990 before the 1989, but both are 25-30 year wines, with the 1989 possibly reaching full maturity in 5-6 years and the 1990 needing several more years of cellaring. Last tasted, 11/96.

Score: 96 Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book (3), November 1998

Tasted at Farr Vintners’ vertical from ex-chateau magnum. One of the finest vintages made at the estate, the Chateau Angelus 1989 has a very intense, powerful bouquet with blackberry, cedar, cooked meat and a little Christmas cake. Whereas the 1990 gives you everything up front, the 1989 is far more coquettish and takes time to unfold. The palate is very smooth on the entry, beautifully balanced with filigree tannins. There is an edginess to the 1989, much more feminine with a touch of truffle, coca and pepper on the finish. Wonderful, a wine at its peak, although it shows no signs of flagging. Tasted October 2011. Drink 2015-2035.

Score: 97
 

One of the most singular Bordeaux I have ever tasted, it verges on being port-like, but it pulls back because of the extraordinary minerality and laser-like focus. The wine is massively concentrated, still black/purple-hued to the rim, and offers a nose of incense, blackberries, blueberry liqueur, acacia flowers, and forest floor. It reveals low acidity and high tannins, which are largely concealed by the sheer concentration and lavish glycerin the wine possesses. Aging at a glacial pace, it is approachable, but it will not hit its peak until 2020; it should last for twenty years thereafter.

Score: 100 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (183), June 2009

One of the great modern-day legends in Bordeaux, this is wine that may, in time, be considered among informed connoisseurs the way 1961 Latour a Pomerol is often looked at, a rarity from property that seems to have produced the equivalent of a one-hit wonder. It is still dense purple, with an extraordinary nose of liquified minerals infused with licorice, violets, blackberry, blueberry, and currant. The wine is opulent, full-bodied, and seamless, with an extraordinary integration of acidity, tannin, and wood. Spectacularly complex, rich, and full with a finish that gives on for 45+ seconds, this is an incredible achievement that is hard to believe in view of what this property seems to produce routinely. Nevertheless, I had this wine a good two dozen or more times, and it just never fails to provide compelling drinking. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2030+. Last tasted, 1/03.

Score: 100 Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book (4), December 2003

I have had the 1990 Beausejour-Duffau a half-dozen times since bottling. I believe this wine may, in 15-20 years, be considered to be one of the greatest wines made this century. It is in a league with such legends as the 1961 Latour a Pomerol. Beausejour-Duffau's 1990 has always been the most concentrated wine of the 1990 vintage. The color remains an opaque murky purple. The nose offers up fabulously intense aromas of black fruits (plums, cherries, and currants), along with smoke, a roasted herb/nut component, and a compelling minerality. The wine is fabulously concentrated, with outstanding purity, and a nearly unprecedented combination of richness, complexity, and overall balance and harmony. What makes this effort so intriguing is that as good as Beausejour-Duffau can be, I know of no vintage of this estate's wine that has come remotely close to this level of quality. In several blind tastings, I have mistaken this wine for either the 1989 or 1990 Petrus! However, the 1990 Beausejour-Duffau is even more concentrated than those two prodigious efforts. It should be at its best between 2002-2030. Last tasted, 5/98.

Score: 100 Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book (3), November 1998