1990 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron, Pauillac, Bottle (750ml)

RP98 "The 1990 Pichon-Longueville Baron has always been one of my benchmark wines, one that never ceases to perform. Now at 27 years of age, it is clearly at its peak, and what a wondrous thing it is. Now showing some bricking on the rim, the bouquet is utterly sublime, with red berries, cedar, touches of graphite, crushed rose petals and incense. You just want to become enveloped by these aromas. The palate is perfectly balanced, perhaps not as structured as it once showed since the tannins have mellowed, but what you get is a Pauillac relishing its secondary phase, which is almost Burgundy-like in terms of mouthfeel. Suffused with tension, it gains weight in the mouth toward the slightly tart finish. It is a Pichon Baron that only knows how to give sophisticated drinking pleasure. I once wrote that Pichon Baron is better than many 1990 First Growth, and that is a statement I have no reason to change. Tasted April 2017." NM for TWA Jun 2017

JD98 "The 1990 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron is drinking at full maturity, where it's been for the past decade, and as a side note, this has been an incredibly consistent wine for me, with every bottle delivering the goods. A gorgeous, majestic Pauillac in every way, it offers utterly classic aromatics of darker currants, leafy tobacco, smoke, truffly earth, and lead pencil. These all carry to a medium to full-bodied effort that has a layered, elegant mouthfeel, resolved tannins, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. In the same league as the all-time greats here, including the 2000, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2019, ad 2020, it's an incredible treat to drink today. There's no upside to additional cellaring, but it should easily hold for another decade and have a gradual decline thereafter." JD Mar 2024

Robert Parker writes, "I have consistently written that 1990 is a greater vintage overall than 1989. I have also stated that, in my opinion, 1990 is an even greater vintage than 1982 - particularly in view of the fact that a number of estates making superb wine today were not especially well-managed or motivated in 1982. For examples of this, readers need look no further than such châteaux as Angèlus, Beauséjour-Duffau, Canon-La-Gaffelière, Clinet, Clos Fourtet, L'Eglise-Clinet, La Fleur de Gay, Gazin, Lafon-Rochet, Lagrange (St.-Julien), Monbousquet, Pape-Clément, Phélan-Ségur, Pichon-Longueville-Baron, Smith-Haut-Lafitte, Le Tertre-Rôteboeuf, Troplong-Mondot, and Valandraud, all estates trying to produce superlative wine in the nineties, that were indifferently administered (or non-existent in the case of Valandraud) in 1982. After this tasting, I was even more impressed with the 1990s. It is undoubtedly the greatest young Bordeaux vintage of modern times, with a style not dissimilar from 1982, but with more consistency from top to bottom than 1982." Published: Feb 27, 1997