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. (William Kelley, The Wine Advocate, Mar 2022, 97 Pts)
The 1989 Pichon-Baron repeats its performance from the vertical tasting in May 2018. It storms from the glass, bearing copious blackberry, cedar and perhaps a little more mint than I noticed on the previous bottle. There is so much youthful zeal to this harmonious, refined Pauillac that you would barely guess it is 30 years old. Long and tender with a graphite-infused finish, this bottle might be even better than the ex-château example. Drinking window: 2019-2038 (Vinous, Sept 2019, 95 Pts)
Impressive saturated ruby color. Pure, classic Pauillac aromas of black cherry, bitter chocolate, menthol and flowers. Very intensely flavored, precise and penetrating, with an extremely primary flavor of cassis. Almost magically light on its feet owing to its rather strong acidity. A very young, extremely long wine with great tensile strength. May yet merit a higher score with another six to eight years of bottle aging. 2006 to 2025. (Vinous, Jul 2002, 94+ Pts)
