In anticipation of our upcoming trip to Bordeaux, I pulled an ’89 Cordeillan Bages out of the cellar last week.  I remember buying this bottle when I first started getting into Bordeaux wine in about ’92.  We are actually staying at the Cordeillan Bages estate in Pauillac on our trip, so we thought this would be an interesting bottle to taste now.

This ’89 Cordeillan Bages was a dark ruby red color, with just a slight bit of bricking at the rim.  The nose smelled of forest floor with dried leaves and damp earth and a little sweet red fruit coming through.  In the mouth, the taste of the moderately sweet red fruit was complicated with the earthy flavors (leaves, moss and dirt).  The wine had a slight rustic medium length finish and a little bit of dryness on the end.  After several hours of air, the fruit was a little more dominant over the forest flavors and the finish was smoothing out, while still maintaining a little bit of its rustic character.  (89 pts.)

We look forward to trying the more current vintages of this wine in just a few short weeks.

Cellar Gems are reviews of bottles aged in our cellar.