1989 Malescot St Exupery

Some background – only started drinking wine ~7 years ago and really got into it the last 2 years. Before that had only ever had cheap crap wine and an early 2000s Turley Zin got me hooked. Early on it was all about Napa Cab fruit bombs and evolved towards Bordeaux, CdP, Super Tuscans and Rhône Syrah and still exploring. Before tonight had never had anything older than a 10-12 year old Bordeaux (not counting vintage Port).

Scooped up 3 bottles of the 3rd growth 1989 Malescot St Exupery at auction for $160 Cdn per bottle. Was very happy with the fill levels, pristine labels and original price tags on
2 of them ($30 from LCBO Vintages from 1989!) Online vintage charts highly rate the left bank for 1989 and kinda cool it’s the year of the fall of Berlin Wall (not as cool also year of massacre at Tiannamen Square). I scoured this sub how to approach this (thank you all for this wonderful resource!). Stood upright for 2 days, cork came out clean with an Ah So, double decanted for sediment thru cheese cloth (less sediment than I expected, see pic). Poured and started drinking! I’m a novice with tasting notes but here’s my attempt:

Medium red color with pale rim
On the nose: mushroom, cigar with the faintest hint of dry cherries. Was kind of hoping to experience barnyard funk for first time but none of that.
Palate was muted with an absence of acidity and faint soy taste until 10-15 minutes in the glass; then opened up incredibly with dried leaves, ashy smoke, some herbs I couldn’t place, a complete absence of fruit notes. Med-light body, fully integrated soft tannins with evolving acidity over 90 minutes, after which it started to lose some luster. Incredibly long finish over 60 s.

Overall an amazing experience with two more bottles to save to share with my wine snob friends 🙂 I had 3/4 of the bottle and wife had other 1/4 so apologies for any typos. Cheers!!!