The Auswine Forum

Hello All,

I wanted to let you know about a tasting of 1989 vintage Bordeaux wines that I will be attending.

The wine to be served are:

On Arrival:
Laurent Perrier NV

Wines on Tasting:
1989 Gruaud-Larose (St-Julien)
1989 Leoville Las Cases (St-Julien)
1989 Phelan Segur (St. Estephe)
1989 Pichon Lalande (Pauillac)
1989 Mouton-Rothschild (Pauillac)

Finishing with:
1975 Coutet (Barsac)

The tasting will be presented by Rob Geddes MW.

The wines will be accompanied by the fabulous food of Tony Bilson.

Date:
Tuesday 22nd June 2004

Venue:
Bilsons Raddison Plaza Hotel
27 O'Connell St, Sydney

Time:
7pm for 7.30 start

RSVP:
Joe Bavaro on 02 9816 5277

Cost:
$375.00 per person

Below are 2 picture of my favourite estate, Pichon Lalande. I look forward to tasting its great 1989:

At the price it would have been wonderful to see the (apparently) super Lafite, and maybe Margaux or Latour, even a better Pomerol. It's still an impressive lineup and sure to be a great tasting - I'm probably not the only one looking forward to the notes

jakob I agree, sounds very expensive for what it is.

Anonymous wrote:jakob I agree, sounds very expensive for what it is.

I think you should probably take into account the food of Bilsons, as well as any bottle RRP divided by number of serve calculations - Tony Bilson has quite a reputation in Sydney

... I suppose you might learn something off Rob Geddes as well!

Adair

Atilla,
I don't want to put a real dampner on the evening, I'm sure the food will be excellent, but the wines? It is almost as if they have deliberately tried to amass the underperformers (normal to their usual quality) of the vintage.
Will be most interested to hear your thoughts on the Las Cases and the Mouton.

Aussie Johns wrote:Atilla,
Will be most interested to hear your thoughts on the Las Cases and the Mouton.

Ditto Attila - I quite liked both wines but had them in the mid-90s last. Interesting to see how they have held up...

Hi Atilla

Please post some TN. Would love to read it

Cheers
Rob

I certainly am planning to post notes after this tasting.
In my view, the Pichon Lalande will be the top wine followed by Gruaud then Mouton then Las Cases. I am certain that the Coutet will be OUTSTANDING. As for the Laurent Perrier, I've never been a fan but let's hope it will surprise me with quality improvement and I also believe that the little Phelan Segur might turn out to be a nice wine.
I will find out on the night.
Rob Geddes MW is a fine gentleman, I've met him at the Tokaji Esszencia tasting and I'm looking forward to some special Bordeaux education and advice. Tony Bilson's cooking should be great.
Cheers,
Attila

In my view it will be Mouton #1, and LLC #2 (as it should be).

The rest should be ordinary going on past performance.

Pity no wines from Graves, notably Haut Brion.

guest boy wrote:In my view it will be Mouton #1, and LLC #2 (as it should be).

The rest should be ordinary going on past performance.

Pity no wines from Graves, notably Haut Brion.

Nah, the pichon will be standout in this line up...mouton from 89' was pretty ordinary comparatively. The leoville lacked a bit of richness and concentration when I last had it.

Tried the 1989 Palmer last week, what a great wine.

If I was to rank, I would guess:
Pichon
LLC
Mouton
Gruard
Phelan

But then again...it doesnt matter about past performance, its the individual bottles that matter! Hope you have a great night guys.

Cheers, Adam

Is this not blatant spam??

Anonymous wrote:Is this not blatant spam??

Yes, unless you ask the owner and moderator of the Forum permission before you make such a post.

Attila

when r we gonna get notes on that tokay tatsing u went to?

I have been extremely busy preparing the material for my upcoming European tastings. (Aus-NZ pinot noir and Shiraz-Shiraz blends) It looks like I'll be able to write about the Tokaji (quite fantastic wines!) tasting soon, hopefully you all get to read about it next week.
Cheers,
Attila

Checked out the wine advocate last night, with Parker rating the greatest wines of the past 25 years in Bordeaux.
Each estate was summarised, and their "best" and "worst" vintage efforts of the past 25 years named by the great man.
Phelan Segur didn't get a guernsey, as it shouldn't, but the remainder of the wines to be tasted are there.
Indeed, without fail, all the other estates have their 1989 vintage as amongst their one or two worst efforts of the past 25 years!!
Looking forward to your notes.

Aussie Johns wrote:Checked out the wine advocate last night, with Parker rating the greatest wines of the past 25 years in Bordeaux.
Each estate was summarised, and their "best" and "worst" vintage efforts of the past 25 years named by the great man.
Phelan Segur didn't get a guernsey, as it shouldn't, but the remainder of the wines to be tasted are there.
Indeed, without fail, all the other estates have their 1989 vintage as amongst their one or two worst efforts of the past 25 years!!
Looking forward to your notes.

Interesting comments - I am, compared to others here, relatively inexpereinced with Bordeaux but I have been quite impressed with the 1989 Bordeaux examples I have tasted - I remember intimately the 5th Growths, 1989 Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste (Pauillac) and the 1989 Chateau Cantemerle (Haut-Medoc). Both were fantastic.

Don't get me started about 1983s... I even had a terrible Chateau Brane-Cantenac (2nd Growth: Margaux) . No I have not tried the 1983 Chateau Margaux.

Adair

what have the 1983's got to do with the price of eggs?

Anonymous wrote:what have the 1983's got to do with the price of eggs?

"Mostly though, sheep have the biggest sinks."

Aussie Johns wrote: Indeed, without fail, all the other estates have their 1989 vintage as amongst their one or two worst efforts of the past 25 years!!
Looking forward to your notes.

AJ Be interested in what WA had to say about the '89 La Mission Haut Brion and Haut Brion '89 . I've only had them once but both I thought were superb.

Chgeers

Paul;

Anonymous wrote:what have the 1983's got to do with the price of eggs?

It is a vintage in the last 25 years... in relation to Aussie John's post:

"Checked out the wine advocate last night, with Parker rating the greatest wines of the past 25 years in Bordeaux.
Each estate was summarised, and their "best" and "worst" vintage efforts of the past 25 years named by the great man.
Phelan Segur didn't get a guernsey, as it shouldn't, but the remainder of the wines to be tasted are there.
Indeed, without fail, all the other estates have their 1989 vintage as amongst their one or two worst efforts of the past 25 years!!"

That is all. I am not really trying to make a big statement except, in my limited tastings, I have found 1989 to be better than some other Bordeaux vintages, one example being 1983.

Adair

Adair,

1989 is a very good vintage, but not all wines excelled that year.

of the last 25 years:
1980
1984
1987
1992
1993
1994
1997
are all clearly inferior to 1989.

1983 has produced some pretty good wines: Commune Margaux is most obvious: Margaux and Plamer being obvious. Rauzan Segla is rubbish.
but some others I have enjoyed have included Pichon Lalande and Haut brion. Latour is rubbish.

That said this tasting doesn't excite me very much, and seems overpriced.

Attila, after all those 'two cents worth' contributions, all we really want to know is...how were the wines?