WAITING FOR BORDEAUX

Wine

It's time to shell out for the great late-vintage French clarets

JOEL L. FLEISHMAN

It had to happen sooner or later. After a sensational sequence of good-togreat vintages, Bordeaux was slammed by a killer frost the night of April 20, 1991, literally nipping the grape blossoms in the bud. The result: sparse flowers, erratic pollination, fewer grapes. Most chateaux seem likely to make about half of their usual volume of wine. If 1991 turns out to be a great vintage, its prices will be astrospheric because of the small supply. If '91 proves lackluster, however, the '89s and '90s will escalate in price because they will be the most recent available great vintages. This is, therefore, the best time to consider purchasing Bordeaux of the last few years.

In early July, on a trip to southern France, I tasted the 1988, 1989, and 1990 vintages of about fifty chateaux. Here are my conclusions (my favorites are marked with asterisks).

The most magnificent of all the '90s is the Chateau Margaux* ($715). It has an astonishing nose of palpable softness, sweetness, and power, the most elegant nose I remember in any young wine. In the mouth it is pure sweet anise, rich blackberries, soft tannins, and cool eucalyptus—all in striking balance. The '89 ($915) has the same blackberry and anise flavors, and its sweet, opulent violets jump out of the glass. If Chateau Margaux's reputation as the goddess of Bordeaux was ever in doubt, this pair would be sufficient to re-establish the legend for at least another half-century.

The same sculpted elegance of the '90s and huge, hot-blooded flavors of the '89s are also evident in Pauillac, which boasts three of Bordeaux's five official First Growths. The 1990 Chateau Latour ($760) is lean, aristocratic, and intense, showing perfect control of its peppery, spicy dry-sweet cassis; its rich chocolate essence is chastened by bittersweetness. The 1989* ($875) is voluptuous, less tempered. At Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, the 1990 ($760) has a fresh, vigorous nose of deep, sweet plums and vanilla; it fills the mouth, a wine of opulent finesse. The 1989* ($995) is all sweet, sumptuous violets and intense, focused cassis, amazingly soft for such a concentration of flavors.

The 1990 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild* ($760) is breathtaking for its combination of richness and restraint. With a nose of chocolate, coffee, and licorice—almost toffee—and a taste of amazing sweet cassis and plums that can only be called explosive, it is mouthcoating and very, very long. The 1989 ($1,030) is fuller-bodied and more velvety, though less elegant.

Many other Pauillac chateaux produced 1990s that I prefer to their 1989s. Among them: Lynch-Bages ($325), Pichon-Lalande* ($355), Pichon-Baron* ($350), Haut Batailley* ($180), d'Armailhac ($179), and Clerc-Milon ($240). The 1990 Grand-Puy Lacoste* ($225) is the best in a decade, and Les Tourelles ($170), the second wine of Pichon-Baron, is a terrific buy.

In St.-Estephe, the 1989 Cos d'Estoumel* ($450) proved irresistible, with a nose of sweet violets and black truffles; in the mouth its lush cassis is framed by violet perfume. I was more impressed, too, by the 1989s of Chateau Meyney ($175) and Les Ormes de Pez* ($185) than by their 1990s. The 1990 Chateau de Marbuzet ($300), the second wine of Cos d'Estoumel, however, is fresher, brighter, and more supple than the 1989.

St.-Julien has produced a shimmering star in its 1990 Ducru-Beaucaillou* ($350), the best young Ducru I've tasted in a decade. Its fruit is sweet and spicy, as well as silky, and it has an endless finish. In the same commune, Chateau Talbot has a better 1990 ($265) than 1989 ($325), but the 1989s of GruaudLarose* ($370) and Leoville-Las Cases* ($570) are not only grander than their 1990s, but stunningly so.

In Graves, the 1990 Chateau La Mission-Haut-Brion* ($540) was the most massive 1990 I tasted. Its ebullient sweet-plum, coffee, bittersweet-chocolate, and eucalyptus flavors are forceful and chewy; they are followed by a viscous finish of chocolate and orange rind. At Haut-Brion, the 1990* ($730) has a fruit taste of cassis, raspberry, chocolate, and coffee that makes it sweeter than the 1989 ($1,300), but not as prodigious; while the 1989 is velvet, the 1990 is sheer silk. At Pape-Clement, the 1989* ($270) is richer and more intense than the 1990. The previous year's edition ($280) was perhaps the best 1988 I found.

In Pomerol, the 1990 Petrus* ($2,000) is simply astonishing: it has the sweetest cassis I've ever tasted, a powerful grip, and a classic structure. Among the St.-Emilions, the 1990 Belair ($500) and Ausone* ($920) are superb, while I preferred the 1989 vintages of La Commanderie ($144), Haut-Corbin ($199), and Clos des Jacobins ($325).