The 1990 Pichon-Longueville Baron has always been one of my benchmark wines, one that never ceases to perform. Now at 27 years of age, it is clearly at its peak, and what a wondrous thing it is. Now showing some bricking on the rim, the bouquet is utterly sublime, with red berries, cedar, touches of graphite, crushed rose petals and incense. You just want to become enveloped by these aromas. The palate is perfectly balanced, perhaps not as structured as it once showed since the tannins have mellowed, but what you get is a Pauillac relishing its secondary phase, which is almost Burgundy-like in terms of mouthfeel. Suffused with tension, it gains weight in the mouth toward the slightly tart finish. It is a Pichon Baron that only knows how to give sophisticated drinking pleasure. I once wrote that Pichon Baron is better than many 1990 First Growth, and that is a statement I have no reason to change. Tasted April 2017.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPThe 1990 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron is drinking at full maturity, where it’s been for the past decade, and as a side note, this has been an incredibly consistent wine for me, with every bottle delivering the goods. A gorgeous, majestic Pauillac in every way, it offers utterly classic aromatics of darker currants, leafy tobacco, smoke, truffly earth, and lead pencil. These all carry to a medium to full-bodied effort that has a layered, elegant mouthfeel, resolved tannins, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. In the same league as the all-time greats here, including the 2000, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2019, ad 2020, it’s an incredible treat to drink today. There’s no upside to additional cellaring, but it should easily hold for another decade and have a gradual decline thereafter.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDThe 1990 Pichon Baron is a formidable wine, one that I have tasted innumerable times. This bottle, the only "youngster" served during a tasting of venerable bottles, demonstrates how Jean-Michel Cazes and Daniel Llose took it by the scruff of the neck and showed what this vineyard is capable of. Copious blackberry, cedar and mint notes gush from the glass, an underlying graphite element becoming more pronounced with time. The palate is beautifully balanced with superb delineation, sidestepping the precocity of the vintage to deliver razor-sharp, intense flavours, seamless oak integration and a crescendo that leaves you wanting more on the finish. Stunning. Tasted at the château.Vinous Media | 96 VMApproaching its 26th birthday, this has an enticing grilled-fruit nose and still feels full of vivacity. The tertiary flavours are showing through with tobacco and hay, but are accompanied by welcoming cooked blackberry fruits. This is the exact blend of elegance and power that you want in an old Médoc. Full of crackling autumnal pleasure. 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot. Drinking Window 2016 - 2025Decanter Magazine | 95 DECMore tobacco and cedar character on the nose, with hints of ripe fruit. Full-bodied, yet fine and sophisticated, with elegant tannins and a long finish. This is always a top-quality red. ’89/’90 Bordeaux non-blind horizontal. Drink now.Wine Spectator | 94 WSThe 1990 Pichon Baron is a superb example of the vintage and a wine that has the depth of fruit at the core to age very gracefully. The deep, complex and still quite youthful nose offers up scents of cassis, black cherries, cigar smoke, gravelly soil, coffee bean and toasty new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and impressively pure on the attack, with fine complexity, a superb core, melting tannins and outstanding length and grip on the focused and classy finish. This wine is fresher and less roasted than many of the 1990s are today, and is already starting to drink very well indeed. Fine juice and one of the stellar successes from the vintage. (Drink between 2012-2050)John Gilman | 94 JG
