Luxuriantly powerful fruit of spice, jam and violets with obvious pinot extract lead to amazingly powerful yet velvety flavors. There are ample tannins but the extract more than buffers them. Huge, rich and long from beginning to end, this is still very much of a baby. In fact, there is so much extract and this is so youthful that this should continue to evolve for some years to come. To be sure, there are the typical '88 tannins present and noticeably so on the finish but as noted, there is good mid-palate extract to maintain balance and at 16 years of age, the wine is remarkably fresh and very Richebourg.

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Tight and beautifully focused, with a laser beam of plum, raspberry and tart cherry flavor, hinting at cola and spice around the edges, nailed in place by lavish tannins and sharp acidity. It's an age-worthy package, already showing a glimmer of silky texture. 1,000 cases made.

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The Richebourg was an explosive wine with an earthy, cinnamon, gingery, soy sauce aroma backed up with the intense smell of plums and toasty new oak. Extremely rich, full bodied, and awesomely proportioned, this heroic wine should be drunk from the late nineties through the first two decades of the twenty-first century. It seems bigger, fuller, and more powerful than even the celestial 1985.

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