The 1985 Pichon Lalande has a deep brick color. It offers up a tantalizing perfume of potpourri, Chinese five spice, and incense, followed by suggestions of Christmas puddling, dried cherries, cigar box, and dried mandarin peel. The medium-bodied palate is refreshing and lively with delicate, mature plum preserves and spicy flavors, supported by powdery tannins, finishing long and mineral-laced. (LPB)

While I have been a big fan of the 1985 vintage in Bordeaux for many years... but in my formative years, I found it a bit too “weedy” and did not end up cellaring it for my own collection. I think this was the only vintage of Pichon-Lalande I did not buy for my cellar in that era, as I started laying in the wines with the 1981 vintage and bought them every year (even the 1984 and 1987) up through the 1989, before my buying habits (and my more limited cellar budget in those days) turned towards Burgundy. But, I skipped the 1985 and that was too bad, as the wine has aged quite beautifully and is now drinking with great style and grace. The bouquet is a superb blend of cassis, dark berries, coffee, cigar wrapper, a dollop of fresh herbs, gravel, black tea and toasty oak. On the palate the wine is pure, fullish and beautifully complex, with a good core of fruit, lovely soil signature, melted tannins and fine length and grip on the very classy finish. This is not a powerful vintage of Pichon, but it is an utterly complete one!

Quite ripe, with flavors of plum cake, warm pain d'épices, mint, Christmas pudding and fruitcake embedded in mulled currant and fig fruit. Offers a long, coffee-tinged finish, alluring ripeness and an easy structure. *Cellar, Selection, Wine Spectator Top 100 of 1988* (JM)