Bordeaux 1990: 20 years on

Château Latour was declared “wine of the night” at a review of the 1990 vintage organised by Christie’s.

Earlier this year, the auction house tasted a number of top Bordeaux châteaux from the vintage as it approached its twentieth anniversary.

Falling between the monumental 1982 and 2000 vintages has had its advantages and disadvantages for 1990.

One disadvantage is its usual exclusion from “greatest vintage of the 20th century” conversations and one advantage, for claret drinkers at least, is its prices, which in some cases are 50% lower than 1982 and 20% lower than 2000, Amanda Crawford, one of Christie’s wine specialists in New York, noted.

A quick search on Bordeaux Index reveals the disparity in prices. A bottle of 1982 from Mouton-Rothschild or Latour cost £1,125 and £1,250 respectively. Their 1990 equivalents are a distinctly more affordable £217 and £533 per bottle.

Crawford reported that having tasted through Latour, Mouton-Rothschild, Pavie, Cos d’Estournel, La Mission Haut Brion, Palmer, Léoville-Barton, Vieux Château Certan and Domaine de Chevalier, she was convinced that: “1990 is a ‘drink or hold’ year, with peak drinking pleasure taking place between tonight and the next 10 years.”

Mouton was judged to be at the peak of its ageing. Crawford stated it “does not have the life expectancy of its first growth brethren, but was ripe and round and very forward.”

Due to a hot year (August was the hottest since 1928) and resulting big crop, as well as its approachability from an early age, 1990 has often been considered as a vintage unsuited to long-term ageing, according to Crawford.

However, in July last year when critic Robert Parker tasted 1982 and 1990 from 28 châteaux, the combined scores for 1982 showed a 3.5 drop in points whereas 1990 had an overall gain of two.

So not only does it still appear to have the legs for another decade, it doesn’t require such bank-account sapping expenditure either.

Rupert Millar, 26.08.2010