1989 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

This is my first-ever experience of this legendary wine, often spoken of in the same breath as its illustrious sister of the same vintage across the road, the 1989 Château Haut-Brion. Carefully uncorked (still in pristine condition) and decanted on-site at Otto Ristorante on 30 June 2021 to go with an outstanding 600g wagyu ribeye, this wine is beautifully deep purple with just a trace of translucency at the rim, proffering a gentle delicious fragrance of mature plums, raspberries, mulberries and dark currants with a whiff of wood dust. Gliding with cool elegance across the medium-full palate, the 1989 Château La Mission Haut-Brion is still incredibly fresh, imbued with layers of fruit within its silky smooth tannins at just the right degree of ripeness and purity that teased with subtle vigour and elegant intensity, wonderfully integral throughout its superb length. It may not quite plumb the depths but this simply adds to its impeccable balance, brimming with a sense of quiet confidence amid a suggestion of smouldering ember as it sat in the glass, exuding sheer sophistication. Barely hinting at its thirty-two years, this has the legs to outlast another generation, truly befitting of its exalted reputation. Fabulous! Thanks, John!!