1989 CHÂTEAU GRUAUD LAROSE 1989

Tasted decanted and blind. Dark color, medium intensity, mature. Fruity nose, also smelling of undergrowth and a bouquet of evolution. Aromatic on the palate, with a melted body, with a taste of cedar. Drawing of oval mouth. It's delicious without being powerful. It is very difficult to tell blindly which grape varieties make up this wine.

Somewhat of a letdown when tasted side by side with the 1990, the dark garnet-colored 1989 Gruaud-Larose offers up notes of cedar, tobacco leaf, red and black currants, and some hints of compost. The nose smells sweet, on the palate it is relatively ripe and sweet, but then the wine seems to have plenty of tannin and toughness without that incredible sweet, chewy mid-palate the 1990 possesses. The wine still seems somewhat disjointed, but there are plenty of good things to be found. Perhaps the real problem is that it just suffers in comparison to the profound 1990. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2018. Last tasted, 5/02.