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A sensational effort, and one of the two finest Clinets made before the 2008, this prodigious wine made by the late Jean-Michel Arcaute has always been a sprinter out of the gate. Even at age 19, it continues to strut its stuff. A dense blue/garnet/purple hue exhibits slight lightening at the edge, and the gorgeous nose offers up aromas of sweet blueberries, licorice, smoke, acacia flowers, and camphor. Full-bodied with silky tannins, low acidity, and terrific purity, this 1990 has hit its plateau of full maturity where it should remain for another decade.Robert Parker | 97 RPMy previous encounter with the 1990 Clinet was out of magnum, circa the release of my Pomerol tome around a decade ago. It was impressive. However, this bottle suggests that this lauded Pomerol is beginning to stumble after 30 years. Rather volatile on the nose, the 1990 offers smudged black cherries, kirsch, green olives and dates, heady and ostentatious, though missing a bit of refinement. The palate is quite hedonistic, loaded with glycerine, a core of sweet black fruit with touches of fresh date and camphor, some VA just evident on the finish. Highly enjoyable for sure, though I would not leave bottles too long to drink. It is a Pomerol rather emblematic of the time.Vinous Media | 92 VMBeautifully crafted red. Brilliant ruby color. Aromas of fresh berries, blackberries and chocolate jump from the glass. Full-bodied and chewy, but velvety and caressing. Lots of ripe fruit.--1990 Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2002.Wine Spectator | 92 WS

A very strong effort form Petit-Village, and made before a very noticeable decline in the quality of wines over the subsequent seven years, the fully mature 1990 has plenty of amber at the edge, a dark garnet color, a sweet nose of melted licorice, espresso, dried herbs, and black cherries and currants. The wine is fleshy, silky-textured, and very easy to drink and understand. Anticipated maturity: Now-2010. Last tasted, 3/01.Robert Parker | 90 RP

(Vouvray “la Goutte d’Or”- Domaine François Pinon) I had never previously tasted the 1990 Vouvray “la Goutte d’Or” from Domaine François Pinon and this has to be one of my absolutely favorite wines from the vintage! This is not as heavily botrytized as say, the 1990 la Goutte d’Or from Domaine Foreau, but it is so deep, intensely flavored and precise that it has to be ranked at that same exalted level, despite it not being as rich and powerful. In fact, this has more of a 1989 character than a 1990 one, which is as high a praise as I can come up with for Vouvray, as 1989 is unequivocally my favorite vintage in the Touraine in the last forty years! The wine offers up a stunningly beautiful and vibrant bouquet of apricot, tangerine, tea leaves, salty soil tones, barley sugar and a topnote of orange peel. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and laser-like in its focus, with a great core, bright, zesty acids and stunning complexity and balance on the refined and endless finish. Sheer brilliance! (Drink between 2019-2070)John Gilman | 97 JG

Along with the 1982, 2000, and 2005, the 1990 is one of those monumental Grand Puy Lacostes that you can’t have enough of. Still inky/blue/purple-colored to the rim, it boasts a gorgeously sweet, pure nose of creme de cassis, spring flowers, and a hint of wet rocks. The wine is full-bodied, plush, and expansive with impressive levels of glycerin and purity as well as an endearing texture. This 1990 is evolving at a glacial pace, but the sweetness of the tannins and low acidity ensure a delicious treat whenever a bottle is opened. It should evolve for another 20-25 years. Robert Parker | 96 RPBig and juicy red. Dark color, with coffee bean and chocolate aromas. Full-bodied and velvety, with loads of ripe fruit and a long, flavorful finish.--1990 Bordeaux retrospective. Drink now through 2010. 27,500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WS

This complex, dark garnet/plum-tinged wine reveals some bricking at the edge, and its beautiful, smoky, meaty nose exhibits notions of sweet currants, black cherries, and licorice. Medium to full-bodied and fleshy with low acidity, sweet tannin, and an expansive mouthfeel with no hard edges, it is a fully mature 1990 that should drink well for another decade. In my opinion, the Pape Clement vintages from 1998 onward are even more impressive and deeper. Moreover, they possess greater longevity. Release price: ($310.00/case)Robert Parker | 94 RPI still have the better part of a case of the 1990 Pape Clément in my cellar, and though I have been dipping in to check on its evolution every couple of years over the last decade, I still find this excellent wine a bit too young for primetime drinking. It is one of the most structured vintages of Pape Clément that I have tasted from this golden era at the estate, and a few more years in the cellar to allow more tannins to fall away still seems merited. The bouquet today is pure, complex and utterly classic, offering up a smoky blend of black cherries, cigar wrapper, gravelly soil tones, a bit of iron filings, a discreet touch of toasty oak, a bit of Graves medicinal overtones and hints of red fruit to come in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and beautifully soil-driven, with an excellent core, very good purity for the vintage and still a surprising bit of chewy, youthful tannin perking up the long and complex finish. It is certainly approachable today, but it seems to have gotten a bit sleepy again and closed down a bit more and I would now let it rest comfortably in the cellar for another few years before starting to look for it at its plateau of maturity. (Drink between 2023-2060).John Gilman | 93 JGVery dark ruby color. Raspberry, floral and mineral jump out of the glass on the nose. Full-bodied, with firm tannins, serious fruit and a medium finish. Muscular Pape. Drinkable now.--1990 Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2005. 11,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 91 WSVery good cherry-red. Closed, phenolic nose hints at black cherry, roasted nuts and menthol. Highly extracted and unevolved almost aggressive today and not showing the extreme ripeness of the vintage. Still, concentrated and firm, with tannins under control. For the cellar.Vinous Media | 90+ VM

Huge, dense and thick with extremely ripe but not roasted fruit and flavors that still manage to remain graceful and reasonably elegant despite what can only be described as impressive concentration. The firm tannins have now almost completely been resolved with sweet and ripe flavors that are still vibrant if no longer youthful and for my taste I would suggest that this has arrived at its apogee though it should hold here for up to two more decades. Multiple, and consistent, notes.Burghound | 93 BHThe 1991 Gevrey-Chambertin-Les Combottes is an outstanding premier cru. This magnificent vineyard, sandwiched between such revered grand crus as Clos de la Roche and Latricieres-Chambertin, reaches heights in Leroy’s cellars that do not exist elsewhere. It offers a decadent nose of smoked duck, grilled meats, black fruits, spices, and truffle-like smells. Superb black-cherry fruit flavors are loaded with glycerin and extract. This unctuously-textured, hedonistic wine is remarkably long, sweet, and velvety. Tasting more like an unevolved barrel sample than a finished wine, it should be drunk between 1996-2012.Robert Parker | 92 RP

A little maderized with raised volatile acidity, but some tobacco and berry underneath. Turns fruity and even jammy.James Suckling | 90 JS

Dark ruby color. Decadent aromas of meat, figs and ripe fruit. Full-bodied, with a very good, compacted, fruity structure and a long, long, ripe fruit and earth finish. This is a seriously good bottle. Great value. Love it.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

No written review provided. | 95 ISC

Rich, powerful, stylish and expressive. Petit Mouton is always the most exuberant of the First Growth second wines, and here it rewards with layers of spiced black chocolate, cinnamon-laced blackberries, cherry pits, cassis and caramel. This was the vintage that benefitted from Philippe Dhalluin’s new regime of tightening production on the main wine, ensuring that certain lots that would have previously been selected for Mouton Rothschild now made it in here. As such, 2005 can be seen as the first vintage of the new era where Petit Mouton has grown to be one of the most sought after second wines of the region, with a clear personality and ageing trajectory. 3.62pH. | 92 DEC

Outstanding quality from a weak year. Good darkruby color. Intense aromas of chocolate, berry andcedar. Full-bodied, with firm tannins and a longfinish. Starting to show some bottle bouquet, butgood backbone and firmness. Textbook Latour from adifficult vintage.--Latour vertical. Best after 2004.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

Fabulous for a ’93. Montrose continues to make excellent wines regardless of the vintage. Rich and elegant tobacco, cherry, smoke, toasted oak character, medium to full body, fine tannins and long, flavorful finish. Better in 1998. 21,250 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

Aromas of peat and fruits, with hints of cedar and berries. Full and velvety with good fruit and a medium finish. Goes mushroomy. A little light.James Suckling | 91 JS

Good full ruby-red. Knockout, complex nose offers vibrant aromas of raspberry, sour red cherry, strawberry, licorice and violet, complicated by white pepper and rose. Then moderately dense and fresh in the mouth, with delicately spicy notes of redcurrant, strawberry, licorice, coffee and minerals. This rather elegantly styled wine finishes bright and fresh, with firm, highly polished tannins. This midweight Cheval Blanc lacks the density and concentration of the better vintages, but it has an amazingly pure nose of cabernet franc (I'd score this 95 or more for its aromas) that is a joy to inhale. For those with deep pockets, it's also a fantastic food wine, and a simply amazing buy, since it will cost much less than many other more sought-after Cheval Blanc vintages.Vinous Media | 91 VM

(Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Grand Cru Red) The nose evidences a slight floral quality, and a fascinating mix of earth, leather, tea and spice notes plus an interesting green bark component. The slightly austere, tannic, wonderfully rich flavors are dense, in fact extremely dense with excellent depth and terrific complexity and a finish that seems to go on forever. Though there are now hints of secondary aromas, this remains very young, structured and remarkably intense. When you get the right bottle, the ’93 can be a real stunner. Note: the inconsistency of this wine continues unabated as a bottle opened at the Domaine recently was almost aggressively vegetal and awkward. In short, when it’s good it’s very good but I’ve now had too many disappointing bottles not to be wary. (Drink starting 2018)Burghound | 95 BHLight red. Beautiful nose, very youthful and pure. A vegetal note emerges with air. Packed with dense fruit and marked by a very firm structure of both acidity and dense tannins. The fruit is locked up right now in this massive, powerful La Tâche. Rather than open in the glass, this appears to close up, but have faith; this will be great.--La Tâche non-blind vertical. Best from 2010 through 2030. — BSWine Spectator | 95 WS

A terrific wine for the vintage, Latour’s 1993 reveals an opaque purple color, a backward, cedar, black walnut, cassis, and earth-scented nose, medium to full body, gorgeously rich, concentrated fruit, moderately high tannin (but no astringency), and a sweet, long, powerful finish. The wine does not possess any of the vegetal, green pepper characteristics of the vintage, nor any hint of hollowness or harshness. This wine may prove to merit an even higher rating. Is this vintage the modern day clone of the 1967 and 1971? Anticipated maturity: 2007-2025. Last tasted 1/97Robert Parker | 90 RPSlightly oxidized with a coffee and spice character, as well as fruit. Medium body. Tea, tobacco and some fruit.James Suckling | 90 JS