1989 Haut-Brion Bordeaux Blend - France - Bordeaux - Pessac Leognan - Red - First Growth

($425-$675) Medium red. Highly nuanced, roasted aroma dominated by tobacco, grilled nuts, smoke and vanillin oak. Densely packed, but also juicy and penetrating, with great thrust and superb vinosity. A very powerful wine with a robust tannic structure. Finishes very long and strong. This and La Mission really transcend the vintage.

Browner rim than the 1990. Overwhelmingly gorgeous impact on the palate. Fleshy yet with no shortage of acidity and a certain elegance. Very very sweet and ripe with a velvety medicinal quality. I defy anyone not to like this.

Haut-Brion has been the most consistent first-growth over the last decade, producing top-notch wines, even in such tough years as 1987, 1993, and 1994. The 1989 is one of a handful of truly profound wines from a vintage that tends to be overrated, save for the Pomerols, a few St.-Emilions, and some overachievers in the Medoc. However, 1989 was an extraordinary success for Jean Delmas, the administrator of Haut-Brion and La Mission-Haut-Brion. The prodigious 1989 Haut-Brion is one of the greatest first-growths I have ever tasted. It has always reminded me of what the 1959 must have tasted like in its youth, but it is even richer and more compelling aromatically. The wine exhibits an opaque ruby/purple color, as well as a sweet nose of jammy fruit, tobacco, spicy oak, minerals, and smoke. Fabulously concentrated, with huge levels of fruit, extract, and glycerin, this wine is nearly viscous because of its thickness and richness. Low acidity gives the wine even more appeal and adds to its precociousness. The wine has not budged in development since it was first bottled, although it has always provided thrilling drinking because of its voluptuous texture. It needs another 5-6 years of bottle age before it will begin to develop Haut-Brion's fabulous fragrance. Expect it to hit its plateau of maturity around 2003-2005 and drink well for 15-25 years.

Fabulous aromas of raspberries, minerals, tobaccco, chocolate. Complex. Full-bodied, with big velvety tannins but elegant and fabulous. Wonderful sweetness. Goes on and on. This has been 100 points since I first tasted it in barrel. It may age forever, but so good now. Love it. '89/'90 Bordeaux non-blind horizontal. Drink now.