Purchased from Winebid @ $100. Cork saturated 1/4 inch from bottom, looks and feels as new. Wine into the neck. Deep iodine in color, and at first uncorking the nose rushes from the bottle with dark roasted coffee, iron, meat locker, cedar and dark fruits. I like this already. First sip shows enormous concentration with solid cherry fruit and little else. Poured into decanter. With dinner and an hour+ of air the wine shows exactly how Bordeaux a St. Estephe can be. There are plenty of California wines that take on Bordeaux character and even some that can be mistaken, but none that are even close to this. The full body of this wine now shows all the aromas that originaly gushed from the nose. Rusty iron, beef blood, iodine, mature hung tobacco along with big fat black fruits are quite powerful on the palate. This is allmost too big for my Porterhouse, it might be better on its own terms. My non-Frenchy friends don't like this a bit...he, he, more for me! Balance is very good for a wine this overwhelming and tannins are well integrated, but still potent. Finish is plentiful. I need to go look now at the bottle and see if this is more than 13.5%, 'cause this thing knocked me on my butt! I did couch duty for quite a bit longer than I can usually stand! Anywho I would rate a solid 95 points with room for improvement as the wine is easily 5 years from maturity though very enjoyable to drink now.

Hee hee. Good point, budman.

Had this wine a year ago with 1983 Mouton Rothschild and Penfolds Bin 90A 1990Cab-Shiraz and it showed rather well in this company.

Moutondoc - welcome to VinoCellar!

stealth,

great note. i can't wait to taste my 00's 15 years from now.

welcome to vc moutondoc

Agree Ant, I need to get more 2000s as I only have 4. Did manage to score 8 more '89s on the last WineBid auction though. Plus a '90...uuuhhhhaaaaahhhhhhaaaaahhhhaaaa! Oh and a '59

i managed to get 9 of the 00's at a decent price. not enough i am sure.

I have wanted to open the 1989 for some time, thanks for the notes. The 1990 remains one of my top Bordeaux experiences to date, so if the 1989 is remotely close I forsee great enjoyment!

Still young. Hold. Great bottle of wine.

BUT, I have 1 problem with this bottle: I had the 90 Montrose & this bottle as solid as it is ... will never be the wine that the 90 Montrose is (already).

Stealth, what's your drinking window on the 1990. I have three mags and want to enjoy them at their best. Tia

Board-O. The '90 is young from 750, but it is so f-ing good, it doesn't matter...seriously. It is a wine that should be tasted at this age just as a reference point, that said I wouldn't open a magnum to get that reference. Unless I had a damn good reason to open a magnum, I wouldn't for at least 5 more years and 10 is probably more appropriate. Unless I started seeing notes that it isn't drinking like it used to, I'd let the dust collect and find friends with 750s who share...

Thanks. I figure to open the first mag at its 20th birthday. I still have some of the 1970 that tastes young.

I had a pristine bottle of this last night at an offline dinner. Apparently the bottle showed some offputting odors upon opening and early decanting stages, but it really blossomed later in the evening in time for consumption.

Absolutely no trace of horsiness/funkiness in this well stored bottle.

I had this side by side with the 1990 so it's hard not to compare the two. No doubt in my mind - I prefer the 1990 version but think both are 95+ point wines.

This wine still needs years to fully mature, but it was quite enjoyable to me as I like vibrant, ripe fruit with moderate complexity.