The 1989 vintage: the year of all celebrations

The 1989 vintage leaves everywhere memories of a successful and unhindered year. To the happiness of farmers, prices are rising. The weather is perfect: the hot and dry weather ensures that the vines have the precocity that makes for great vintages. The rain comes at the right time too. The vintage produces very great red wines, perhaps even superior to 1982, more supple and more powerful. Likewise, for dry whites which can be kept for one to two decades.

Bordeaux, a great vintage.

In Bordeaux, the 1989 vintage is similar to the superb 1982and is even better suited for aging. This early year produces majestic wines, especially in Graves and Pomerol. The harvest is abundant and of good quality, with very healthy grapes rich in sugar. The wines are powerful, with tight tannins and a high natural alcohol content. The reds, full-bodied and firm in their youth, have blossomed in developing nuances of roasting and spices. In terms of sweet wine, 1989 is one of the most exceptional vintages there is.

In Bourgogne, the dream vintage

The harvest is excellent. Quantity and quality are there. The wines are tender, rich and charming, the whites are exceptional. Ripe fruit and intense undergrowth invade the reds. La Romanée Conti and La Tâche express the nobility of a great vintage. The reds were a little capricious and we had to cut a lot of grapes before the harvest and know how to vinify, because some vintages stop and others get carried away.

Champagne, a very high quality level

The first in an astonishing series of beautiful harvests, the year is a vintage for all the houses. Of a very high quality level, despite a slight lack of acidity, the harvest recorded a good richness in sugar. Fleshy, long and rich, the wines sometimes turn out to be atypical. They almost all benefited from a good aging potential which allowed them to be appreciated for many years.

Rhone Valley, complete wines.

Like all the others, the vineyards of the Rhône valley are placed under the sign of precocity, sunshine and heat. Careful monitoring of the maturation of the grapes allows the birth of good quality white wines, round, supple, rich in intense aromas of ripe fruit and floral notes. In red, the vintage produced colorful wines, rich in alcohol, generous in flavors of ripe red fruits and spices. Robust and of good structure, the wines evolve well and continue to improve.

Loire, leaning towards white wines.

Excellent throughout the region, the year benefited white wines more than reds. It provides proof that in great vintages, Muscadets can age perfectly. The late season promised some very fine sweet wines, like the Corentine vintage from Domaine La Roulerie.

Alsace, fine and balanced wines.

Very beautiful vintage for all grape varieties. The precocity of the harvest made it possible to obtain fine and balanced wines reminiscent of those of 1983 and 1976.