Bordeaux Vintages of the ‘90s
1990: The decade got off to a roaring start with the third in a series of great vintages. Coming after the classic ’88 and elegant ’89 vintages, the world wasn’t ready for wine as good as this. The 1990s are near-perfect Bordeaux, with perhaps more fruit than what is considered ‘classic claret’. These wines are taking their time, maturing slowly into big, round gorgeous modern wines that should last well for another decade at least.
1991: A very indifferent year of light, thin, acidic boring wines. Not very good young, they are now mostly gone and forgotten.
1992: And yet another boring year – see above! If anything the ‘92s are worse than the ‘91s: thin, tart, boring and lacking fruit – best forgotten. (I am sure there may have been some good bottles these last two years – I just didn’t find any.)
1993: Another year of tarnished reputation, lumped in by some authors with the preceding two very boring vintages. But I found the ‘93s quite delicious when young, reminding me somewhat of the ‘73s from two decades before. They were light, but the fruit was fresh and good, and the low prices made for some decent dinner wines during their first decade.
1994: Although not a renowned vintage, I have found these wines quite good, in the classic style but without the great weight and elegance needed for a truly fine vintage. They are reasonably well balanced, and as they approach the end of their second decade, they make for very nice drinking right about now and over the remainder of their second decade – and even longer for the very best of them.
1995: A glorious vintage of very fine full-bodied and well structured wines. This is potentially a great year; the minor growths are better than usual because of their delicious ripe fruit, and the great growths have the mass and concentration needed to carry them through at least two decades. If you find some, buy them and keep them until at least 2015; you will be rewarded with some of the finest wines of your lifetime.
1996: A very good, possibly fine vintage. Not quite enough structure to be called classic, but filled with delicious appealing ripe fruit that makes for wonderful mid-term drinking. They are so appealing right now that I find myself going through them rather quickly, and I have had to discipline myself and hide a few away to give them a chance to show what their ultimate potential might be
1997: A rather unfortunate year; not as bad as ’84 and ’87 – modern wine-making technology helps us avoid the unmitigated disasters of yore. But they certainly are disappointing, coming after two great vintages and before two more that followed. The wines are quite soft, with pleasant fruit but luster, and that leaves little to give much enjoyment.
1998: A vintage rated quite highly by many pundits, I have always found these wines to be a bit hard and woody. As they mature they are showing sound flavours and good weight, but the wood continues to predominate. That woody character can take a long time to soften, and the question is, do they have the fruit to survive the long evolution?
1999: A decent average vintage, the ‘99s tend to be light and a bit thin, although the flavours are true and the better chateaux made some very good wines. Not a wine for long laying down, but very pleasant bottles for the dinner table for the medium term.
Read about other Bordeaux vintage years:
Bordeaux Vintages of the 60s
Bordeaux Vintages of the 70s
Bordeaux Vintages of the 90s