A superb wine, aging well, the 1990 Latour still seems deceptively youthful, with plenty of ripe mulberry and blackcurrant fruit aromas and a graceful evolution, with truffle, earth, and smoke notes. The texture is supple and warm, but it avoids the softness of some of the clarets from 1990. The tannins are still reasonably firm. Although the wine should continue to improve in the cellar for at least another 20 years, it is already at a nearly perfect point between youth and maturity. (CC)

A classic, powerful, regal Latour, the 1990 is solidly in its drink window and has a still-ruby hue as well as a gorgeous perfume of darker currants, tobacco leaf, new saddle leather, and graphite. It opens up beautifully with air and has the perfect mix of great fruit and purity with mature and complex, cedary nuances. Full-bodied on the palate, perfectly balanced, and with sweet yet still present tannins, it can safely be enjoyed any time over the coming 40-50 years.

Tasted blind at The Arches. Poured from magnum, the 1990 Latour is a tour de force. It displays immense purity and precision on the nose with graphite and tobacco scents, a hint of dried rose petal and mahogany bureau developing with time. The palate is surprisingly backwards considering that it is already over two decades old. It is underpinned with very well judged acidity that lends it poise and grace. But the headline is simple the unadulterated, astounding exhibition of Cabernet Sauvignon that drives the 1990 forward to its intense crushed stone finish where you can almost taste those Pauillac pebbles. Although I have encountered a couple of mis-firing bottles, this is the real deal. (NM)