L'Evangile 1990

A fabulous example of L'Evangile at its best. Dense ruby/purple with some amber at the edge, this wine has a gorgeous nose of black truffles intermixed with caramel, malt chocolate, sweet black raspberries, and blackberries. The wine is full-bodied with loads of glycerine giving it a very opulent, almost viscous feel on the palate. It still tastes youthful, but has always been accessible throughout its entire life. The wine does have plenty of tannin, but most of it is concealed by the wealth of fruit extract and the wine's viscocity. It is sensational L'Evangile that is just beginning to develop the secondary nuances of adolescence. Last tasted, 11/02.

It had been four years since I last drank a bottle of the 1990 Château l’Evangile and the wine just continues to cruise along as if time is never going to touch it. The bouquet is pure and complex, wafting from the glass in a refined blend of black cherries, black plums, tobacco leaf, gravelly soil tones, a touch of roasted game, cigar ash and a quite discreet framing of toasty oak. On the palate the wine is deep, pure and full, with lovely depth at the core, fine soil undertow and grip, lovely complexity, a very refined personality and a long, seamlessly balanced and meltingly tannic finish. This is one of my favorite vintages of l’Evangile after its purchase by Lafite-Rothschild in 1985 and the wine still has decades and decades of splendid drinking ahead of it. My cellar inventory says I still have a single bottle of this wine left; I hope I can find it! (Drink between 2023-2055)

1990 was a very good vintage, although a bit more difficult to manage than the 1989. Flowering was uneven and as crop thinning was not as widely used as today, there were some ripening difficulties. But the sharp edges of youth have softened now, leaving a rich, round sense of self, with cassis-rich fruit. Black truffle notes after five minutes in the glass. Many years of drinking pleasure still to be had. Drink 2018-2028.

Tasted at the Dynasty restaurant in Hong Kong. The Chateau l'Evangile 1990 continues to evolve at a glacial pace. This bottle is less open than the one back in 2008, more austere with a quasi-Pauillac-like bouquet at first: cedar and graphite eventually ebbing away to reveal dried herbs and Italian dried meats. The palate is medium-bodied and more tannic than I recall and unlike other 1990 Right Banks in that it is quite linear and symmetrical, eschewing those hot summer fruits that form the leitmotif of the vintage. As they say…moody bugger! Tasted November 2011.

Very deep crimson with a fully mature rim. Rich, fruity, velvety nose that is very slightly charred and, served blind, even more obviously Pomerol than a 1990. A slightly marie/oyster shells note. Velvety texture. Punchy palate impact - no fading flower. A roasted quality with an iron/mineral streak.Drink 1998-2015.Date tasted 17th Aug 06.