| Tasting note |
A perfect success for Cantemerle and one of the most monumental wines of the last 40 years, the 1989 Cantemerle remains a dense ruby color with plenty of purple in its mid-section. The wine has the classic Cantemerle noise of flowers intermixed with black currants, blackberries, and mineral. Surprisingly opulent, lush, and very fragrant, this wine has supple texture and a gorgeous finish. By Robert Parker, Jan 2003.
Huge wine. Dark ruby-colored. Intense aromas of ripe fruit and game. Full-bodied and compacted, with masses of tannins and fruit, yet still closed and not giving much on the palate. Give this brute time. Best Cantemerle ever? By James Suckling @ Wine Spectator, May 1999.
I have always liked the 1989 Château Cantemerle since its very earliest days, and at age twenty-five, the wine is really starting to drink at its apogee. The bouquet is pure, complex and classy, offering up scents of cassis, cigar smoke, a bit of charred wood, dark soil tones, exotic spice overtones (curry?) and cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still shows off a bit of tannin, with fine mid-palate concentration, excellent focus and grip and a very long, complex and generous finish. This was still in the era where the Cordier team was in charge of the winemaking at Cantemerle, and the style is a bit more extracted during this epoch and the 1989 does not possess quite the same refinement as is found in the excellent 1996 version. But, this is still a very well-made wine and a strong vintage for Cantemerle. (Drink between 2014-2040). By John Gilman, Apr 2019. |
