Pichon Baron 1989

One of the wines of the vintage, the 1989 Pichon-Longueville Baron is drinking beautifully today. Bursting from the glass with aromas of ripe blackcurrants, plums, Cuban cigar, loamy soil, black truffles and burning embers, it's medium to full-bodied, rich and enveloping, with powdery tannins and a concentrated core of fruit. Fleshy and dramatic, with a sumptuous, low-acid profile and a long, expansive finish, to my palate this is the one 1989 Pauillac that, on a good day, can rival the extraordinary 1989 Lynch Bages. While I tend to think it's at its peak, every bottle I open from my cellar in Beaune seems to be better than the last.

The 1989 Pichon-Baron remains a magnificent wine after almost 30 years. The bouquet is intense: aromas of blackberry, cedar, and a touch of bacon fat and mint storm from the glass and gain intensity with aeration. The harmonious, medium-bodied palate delivers fine tannin, a perfect bead of acidity and gentle grip in the mouth. The ample black fruit is laced with graphite toward the finish, and the aftertaste is sustained. This is the first bona fide great Pichon-Baron of the modern era. Tasted at the Pichon-Baron vertical at the château. Drink 2018-2038.

A hot dry vintage that at over 30 years old is really beginning to be sorted out into the great and the 'drink up' wines. This is one to look out for, welcoming aromatics of smoked earth, rosebud and liqorice root, great complexity of flavours, waves of tobacco and brambled blackberry and raspberry puree. Still plenty of fruit here, although tertiary and unfussy. Exotic spices also of cinammon and turmeric. Lovely - you can see why Jean Marie Matignon calls this his first great vintage, five years after he took over as technical director, and it just sings of Pauillac restrained power. Yields up at 55-60hl/h.

Stunning wine, one of the very best 1989s. Rich blackish crimson with a rich nose that is still very sweet and fragrant. But the wine is lovely and refreshing too. Almost minty and aromatic. This stands up well to comparison with the first growths. Bravo! (It was served blind alongside Ch Lynch Bages 1989 which was made by the same man, Daniel Lhose.)