Château Lascombes Margaux 1855 2ième Cru 1990

Oyster shell and soy on the opening aromatics, and the colour still has its prune-purple core, softening to dark rose around the outer rim. This is charming and enticing, drawing you in. 1990 was a big vintage in the Médoc, and you can find examples of the vintage that remain more muscular than this – here at Lascombes it feels as if the tannins are finely spun and gently supportive, but very much in their tertiary moment. It means I would suggest drinking now and over the next decade, but its old school charms are delicious, sums up the pleasure of mature Cabernet, with tobacco, cold ash, smoked earth, gentle waves of toasted cumin, crayon and mint leaf, fruit fading a little. Bass Charrington owners, with René Vannetelle technical director.