97 1988 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion 12/29/04 ($80)
Color: Very deep black garnet with good amount of onion skin. Looks peak, but not at all old. (4.0) Bouquet: Concentrated black ink and sweet cassis. Smells ready and delicious with a healthy amount of black peppery tannin. (4.0) Body: A wall of Cabernet flavor with excellent balance of fruit-to-terroir-to-tannin-to-acidity. (3.5) Flavor: Sweet cassis and ink combined with smoky gray ash and tart black olive terroir. (3.5) Finish: Parallels flavor with more tannin, tart olive and ash. Long and powerful, but still a little restrained. (3.0)
Overall: A very great Bordeaux, best I’ve had in quite some time. Very concentrated with a wonderfully rich, sweet, interesting and delicious bouquet. The olive and smoky ash components, due to Graves terroir, are compelling. Wonderful stuff! I paid about $80 for this in ’92, today it will cost you about $300. (18)