Lafleur 1989

Tasted from an ex-chateau bottle at the Lafleur vertical dinner at Attersee in Austria. The Lafleur 1989 still has a very deep colour. Comparing it directly against the 1988, the aromatics are immediately much more complex, initially broody and biding its time and then unfurling to reveal sous-bois, cepes, sandalwood, black truffles and beef stock. The palate is tannic and assertive having lost none of its intensity over the passing years. There is just enormous weight and dimension, a juggernaut of a Pomerol. This bottle shows hints of dried blood, green tea and dried blood. It fans out wonderfully on the finish

The 1989 Lafleur, tasted side by side with the 1990 on two occasions in 2002, plays it closer to the vest. The wine needs far more coaxing to produce the licorice, black cherry liqueur, earth, and truffle notes from the nose. In the mouth, the wine is full-bodied, tannic, backward, and very tightly knit, with mouth-searing levels of tannin and extremely high extract. The tannins are firmer, the fruit seemingly less sweet, but still extremely ripe, and the evolutionary process is far slower in the 1989 than the 1990. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2045. Last tasted, 8/02.