Wine Spectator (98)

A profound wine of great depth and complexity. Its detailed flavors range from citrus and ginger to whole grain bread and woodsy richness, with accents of honey and nuts. Retains its focus thanks to a vibrant structure, all the time carrying its weight with authority and grace. Fine, smoky finish. Drink now through 2020. 15017000 cases imported.

Wine Spectator (98)

A profound wine of great depth and complexity. Its detailed flavors range from citrus and ginger to whole grain bread and woodsy richness, with accents of honey and nuts. Retains its focus thanks to a vibrant structure, all the time carrying its weight with authority and grace. Fine, smoky finish. Drink now through 2020. 15017000 cases imported.

Wine Advocate (96)

The 1990 La Mission Haut Brion is a wine that just gives so much pleasure that it seems almost immoral to criticize. For sure, it is not in the same league as the awe-inspiring 1989, yet it has such an engaging, quintessential La Mission bouquet full of warm gravel, chestnut, morels and bay leaf scents that you just fall instantly under its charms. It seems to just grow in the glass. The palate is beautifully balanced with great depth but is still a little grainy in texture, and I noticed how it evolved almost a Musigny-like personality with time in the glass. I suggested back in 2014 that it might improve with continued bottle age. Perhaps now I believe that it has reached the top of its plateau, yet the substance and the persistence—the energy—of this Pessac-Léognan suggests that it will give 20 years of drinking pleasure. No, it's not as good as the 1989 La Mission Haut Brion, then again, few wines are. Tasted May 2017.

Wine Spectator (97)

The great first-growth estate produced a wine with amazing length in this new vintage. Goes on and on, with mint, plum and cassis aromas and flavors and ultrafine tannins. A superb Bordeaux. Best after 1999. 25,000 cases made.

Wine Spectator (100)

Like a Michelangelo; everything is in perfect proportion. Has an amazing amount of violets, new wood and fruit on the nose and palate and a superb concentration of silky tannins. The wine of the vintage, and the best from this estate since the legendary 1961. Best after 2000.

Wine Advocate (88)

No specific tasting note.

Wine Advocate (98)

While I entertained higher expectations of the 1989, it was in fact the 1990 Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru that emerged as the wine of the tasting, blossoming in the glass with a complex bouquet of confit lemon, orange rind, dried white flowers, pastry cream, warm bread and vanilla pod. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, satiny textured and enveloping, with broad shoulders, a lively spine of acidity and superb amplitude and concentration, concluding with a long, penetrating finish. Powerful and strikingly complete, this is a Chevalier that more than nods to Montrachet in style. But by the numbers alone, it was cropped at 57 hectoliters per hectare and finished up with 14.1% alcohol and pH 3.23. This is by some margin the finest bottle of Leflaive's 1990 Chevalier-Montrachet that I've encountered.

Wine Advocate (97)

Absolutely spectacular, the1990 Leoville Poyferre is much more evolved than either of its two Leoville neighbors. Its opaque plum/garnet color is accompanied by a gorgeous bouquet of smoke, charcoal, creme de cassis, and flowers. Fleshy and opulent, it comes across like a St.-Julien with a Pomerol texture and allure. This beauty has reached full maturity where it should remain for another two decades. Release price: ($325.00/case)

Wine Advocate (96)

The magnificent, healthy medium-to-dark ruby-colored 1990 Richebourg has stupendous depth and complexity to its dark fruit-dominated aromas. Soy and hoisin sauces, cherries, and raspberries can be discerned in its deep, medium-to-full-bodied character. This satin-textured wine remains youthfully vibrant and should benefit from additional cellaring. Projected maturity: 2005-2010+.

It is moments such as this when your fall in love with wine again and again. The wine is a beautiful pale medium pink colour, gentle, with delicate mousse of small bubbles. There is a rather unexpected large fragrance of ripe raspberries and cherry. There is an incredible amount of flavour with berry fruit, pie crust and sweet spice. This is an unexpected treat.

Vinous - Ian D'Agata (93)

(95% merlot and 5% cabernet franc; 3.57 pH; 70 IPT; 13.9 % alcohol): Deep ruby with a hint of amber at the edge. Initially slightly reduced nose of coffee grounds and underbrush opens slowly with air to reveal red cherry jam, cassis, and tobacco. Then lush, round and rich in the mouth, displaying plum, blackberry and tobacco flavors of noteworthy freshness and finishes with rather soft tannins. Opulent for Magdelaine yet beautifully balanced--and much better than I remembered it. The suave finish features sneaky concentration and a persistent note of tobacco. A superb Magdelaine that is already drinking well and probably won't gain much by further cellaring, though it should remain at this plateau for another ten years. The vintage was characterized by a February heatwave (one day even recorded an unbelievable 26°C!), but bad weather during the flowering period caused considerable coulure and the cabernets in particular were variable in quality from estate to estate. A very hot, dry July and August (40°C on July 21 and 22) really stamped its character on the 1990s, leading to many scorched, sunburned berries. It was also important to harvest the merlot prior to the weekend of September 22 and 23, when a thunderstorm hit. On the basis of this wine, I'd say they got it all right at J. P. Moueix.

Wine Advocate (100)

The 1990 Château Margaux is really beginning to hit its stride at age 31, soaring from the glass with aromas of blackberries and cassis mingled with notions of licorice, cedar and violets, framed by subtle hints of vanilla and spice. Full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, it's seamless and complete, its velvety tannins and ripe acids entirely cloaked in a lavish but vibrant core of fruit. This is an especially dramatic, fleshy rendition of Margaux, yet it remains impeccably balanced and has decades of longevity ahead of it.

Wine Advocate (100)

Tasted at the Montrose vertical in London, the 1990 Montrose is a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc (almost identical to the 1989 Montrose) and picked between 14 September and 3 October. It has a formidable reputation and for years it overshadowed the 1989. That said, it is well known that there are incidences of brettanomyces that compromise some bottles and the one bottle in London showed just a tincture of this. It still merited a score of 97/100, though it only served to highlight the ethereal delineation of the 1989. Then literally a couple of days later. I was served blind a magnum of the 1990 Montrose in Cape Town, which had been purchased on release and stored in perfect conditions. Now, here was the real deal, unfettered by any infection, a regal Saint Estèphe. It shows approximately the same evolution as the 1989 in bottle, but unsurprisingly showed less bricking in magnum format. The bouquet is cut from a different cloth to the 1989 and attests to that warm vintage: hickory, clove, undergrowth and wild fennel, later garrigue-like scents and terracotta, the latter two more pronounced on the bottle format compared to the youthful magnum. The palate is full-bodied and powerful, yet the balance is perfect, a ballerina-like poise with the structure of the Forth Bridge. It is a multi-layered Montrose that offers enormous length, fresh and vibrant with the magnum demonstrating tangible mineralite and tension as it fans out on the crescendo of a finish—a fanfare for Saint Estèphe in all its glory. Improving all the time in the glass, this example of 1990 Montrose is a privilege to behold. One can speculate whether larger formats are a safer bet in terms of experiencing this behemoth without any brettanomyces. Perhaps. However, if you do come across the 1990 Montrose like this, you are in the presence of a king. Tasted January 2017.

Vinous (90)

The 1990 Opus One is another powerful wine built on a serious core of tannin and structure. There is plenty of richness in the glass, but a little less intensity and complexity than the best wines of this era. I imagine the 1990 will still be a delicious wine in another decade. The 1990 is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 3% Merlot.

Jancis Robinson (18)

Magnum. Deep ruby. Completely rich, sweet and gorgeous with a hint of graphite on the nose. Beautiful lift and elegance but on the finish it was a real throat warmer. Just my sort of wine. But after 45 minutes or so, it lost a bit of fruit in the glass and the acidity became much more obvious, suggesting it may not have that much more to give, even from a magnum.

Vinous - Stephen Tanzer (87)

Moderately saturated medium color. Floral, minty, new-oaky nose, with an exotic coconut note; showed some alcohol as it opened in the glass. Silky, supple, and moderately concentrated finishes with palate-caressing tannins and spicy oak. Nicely balanced for early drinking.

Wine Advocate (100)

The 1990 Petrus remains incredibly young, one of the least evolved wines of the vintage (along with Montrose and Beausejour-Duffau). This dense ruby/purple-colored effort is beginning to hint at the massive richness and full-bodied intensity lurking beneath its wall of tannin. The vintage’s sweetness, low acidity, and velvety tannins are present in abundance, and the wine is massive in the mouth as well as incredibly pure and well-delineated. I thought it would be drinkable by now, but it appears another 5-10 years will pass before it begins to reach its plateau of maturity. This wine is capable of lasting at least four more decades. An incredible achievement! Release price: ($5000.00/case)

Wine Advocate (100)

The 1990 Petrus remains incredibly young, one of the least evolved wines of the vintage (along with Montrose and Beausejour-Duffau). This dense ruby/purple-colored effort is beginning to hint at the massive richness and full-bodied intensity lurking beneath its wall of tannin. The vintage’s sweetness, low acidity, and velvety tannins are present in abundance, and the wine is massive in the mouth as well as incredibly pure and well-delineated. I thought it would be drinkable by now, but it appears another 5-10 years will pass before it begins to reach its plateau of maturity. This wine is capable of lasting at least four more decades. An incredible achievement! Release price: ($5000.00/case)

Wine Advocate (100)

The 1990 Petrus remains incredibly young, one of the least evolved wines of the vintage (along with Montrose and Beausejour-Duffau). This dense ruby/purple-colored effort is beginning to hint at the massive richness and full-bodied intensity lurking beneath its wall of tannin. The vintage’s sweetness, low acidity, and velvety tannins are present in abundance, and the wine is massive in the mouth as well as incredibly pure and well-delineated. I thought it would be drinkable by now, but it appears another 5-10 years will pass before it begins to reach its plateau of maturity. This wine is capable of lasting at least four more decades. An incredible achievement! Release price: ($5000.00/case)

Jancis Robinson (17)

Very little red fruit at all. Milky, salty, tight. Very austere and structural.