This was the saddest truth about the wines of Bordeaux I have heard. Of all the clarets I have had, Calon Segur 1988 was the most memorable one. That style became a benchmark I used to compare other Bordeaux wines against. And couldn't understand why, with each year, they moved farther and farther from my beloved style. So, the preferences of the majority have shifted, and it seems that the only way back is to seek those older bottles. Thank you. A bitter truth is still better (in the long term) than never-ending hope to finally find something similar.

Great experience! And a great class for us.

I started my Bordeaux journey in 1985. I bought both the 1989 and 1990 futures of some of the big names Bordeaux wine; first and second growths. I agree with you that the 1989 is underrated. In fact I have enjoyed many of the 1989 wines more that the 1990's. I generally open the old Bordeaux wine around 11AM and tasted it throughout the day. They tend to peak between 6 to 8 hours after opening. I don't really care for the new style wine as much as they seem to lack structure and depth.

I often notice that people, in a general sense, are too fast with their conclusions/opinion about a wine. Whether it is a younger or older vintage. To develop its deeper layers and young fruit. In the absence of air, the young wine may appear reductive and may not show its young fruit. The wine can be closed or even have a bottle shock, with a lot of impatience. After the purchase of the wine. Here too, taking time is often the key to developing/improving. You can be lucky if a young wine immediately has the balance. Is my personal experience. But young prestigious wines can certainly be unruly in their youth. Time and development whether you like it or not. Difficulty 'taking your time', choose an entry wine. They are made for direct consumption and pleasure. And they are often excellent nowadays, with a bit of luck and knowledge. It is also a learning process to have time and patience in this makeable and fast-paced world. Take that chance, I would say. Yes, and as for the Château Calon-Ségur 1989 it also needs time to present itself! For other reasons than with a young wine, but here too time plays a crucial role. To develop and balance after uncorking the bottle. After all, the wine has been in a closed bottle for many years. No more than understandable that the wine needs time to recover! And we can clearly see that in your patient video. Of course there is an imbalance in the first time, we are dealing with a living product! So be careful with conclusions the first hour. I have had that experience dozens of times. Especially if you are not used to old wines in terms of taste and smell. Inexperienced wine tasters, soon talk about, too old, oxidized, over its top etc. Very understandable, but that is why this is partly a learning process and partly personal and subjective of course. Nevertheless very worthwhile, which is also evident from your interesting video. Recognize this valuable experience of yours. It is great that this Calon-Ségur '89 still scores 95 points after 34 years. It is subjective, but given your experience. Yes!!! And of course this wine deserves a suitable meal. With beef stew, beef tongue, or hare pepper stew etc. Not too pronounced and too sweet, given the age of the wine. Heaven on earth, cheers! By the way, the new vintages of Calon-Ségur have to prove themselves after 10, 20, 30 years! Besides, I also made time for this writing.

I wonder if this style of Bordeaux is a "dying art-form" with more and more people preferring fruitier and early drinking wines as well as global warming producing more hot vintages. I'm sure some producers will of course still produce wines like this out of principle and I do hope the new generation of wine drinkers will learn to appreciate them and have the patience to wait or seek out older bottles.

Hey Tony, are these aged bottles coming from your cellar or do you buy them aged?

Do you have experience with Bordeaux 2001 Tony?

the reason why older wines were oakier and more herbal is mostly because they had issues ripening grapes and less about the style that was trendy at that time😅