1990 was a good year…
…for the world wide web. It was in 1990 that Sir Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for it which was later widely used, so thanks go to him for this site’s technology. It was also a good year for Bordeaux wines. A good year is mostly determined by the weather, although the presence or absence of various types of micro-organism can affect vine performance, too. Chateau Laplagnotte-Bellevue, from the St-Emilion region of Bordeaux (on the right bank) produced a very tasty wine that year. 16 years after creation, it’s drinking perfectly. It’s highly complex, with many subtle flavours. I could readily pick out cheeses and liquorice which were also present on the nose (but that’s just my bad drinking technique!). The finish seemed to keep going and going, with various flavours, finishing eventually with the slightest hint of pencil shavings. High quality wines such as these, after enough time, lose their tannins (the chemicals which give them that roughness on the tongue). Over the chemical development of the wine, the tannins turn into lots of subtle flavours and aromas. Overall, it was extremely well-balanced and for this reason would cost around £30 per bottle in shops.