Château Léoville Poyferré, 2ème Cru Classé, St Julien,

The 1989 Léoville Poyferré is a vintage that I have not tasted for a number of years. It has a very attractive bouquet of red fruit mixed with peppercorns, pine, cedar and orange peel, showing signs of youth at 30 years of age. The palate is medium-bodied with a rounded opening and quite extravagant for the growing season. Maybe that is a facet that I coveted more when I last tasted the wine; now it just obscures the terroir and typicité somewhat. With aeration it improves and gains length, although I would have liked a little more precision on the charcoal tinged finish. Tasted from an ex-cellar bottle at the château.