PICHON BARON 1989

What a nose here, from crushed mulberry to tanned leather to tar. Full-bodied, with big, velvety tannins that are soft and caressing, like cashmere. This is so tight and powerful still; it seems to be holding back. Be patient, because it will open with another five or six years of bottle age. Hard to wait. So why do it? *#1 Wine of the Year 1992* (JS)

The 1989 Pichon Baron is a brilliant wine for the vintage, and here it passes the 1989 Mouton in terms of quality. It has a riveting nose, spellbinding with pixelated, mineral-rich black fruit, graphite and tobacco, just a hint of tar. Complete class. The palate is supremely well-balanced, with a purity second to none. Fabulous precision and sense of symmetry, the finish sapid and more-ish. This is a fantastic Pichon Baron that has many years ahead. Tasted at the 1989 dinner at Piccolino in London.

This is glossy and sophisticated, with so much graphite, ink, pencil shavings, blackberries, blackcurrants and blackberry leaves on the nose. Classy and powerful with very sleek tannins. Dark chocolate and blackcurrants. So long and deep. Drink or hold.

One of the wines of the vintage, the 1989 Pichon-Longueville Baron is drinking beautifully today. Bursting from the glass with aromas of ripe blackcurrants, plums, Cuban cigar, loamy soil, black truffles and burning embers, it's medium to full-bodied, rich and enveloping, with powdery tannins and a concentrated core of fruit. Fleshy and dramatic, with a sumptuous, low-acid profile and a long, expansive finish, to my palate this is the one 1989 Pauillac that, on a good day, can rival the extraordinary 1989 Lynch Bages. While I tend to think it's at its peak, every bottle I open from my cellar in Beaune seems to be better than the last. (WK)