94pts Wine Spectator

Delivers fabulous aromas of crushed red fruits, with leather, tar, tobacco and mint. Full-bodied, offering supersoft and silky tannins, as well as a beautiful polish. Open and luscious, with amazing richness of fruit and decadence at the same time.—'89/'99 Bordeaux blind retrospective (2009).

92pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 1989 Gruaud Larose is evolving very slowly, and its impressively youthful structure and vibrant flavors auger very well for its future. Offering up aromas of sweet berry fruit, cigar wrapper, loamy soil and cedar, it's medium to full-bodied, with a rich core of fruit, lively acids and fine but still present tannins. As this develops in the cellar, it's showing more plenitude and mid-palate volume than it did a decade ago, and for patient readers this is emerging as a comparatively underestimated 1989 Médoc.

92pts Jeb Dunnuck

A classic, old school Saint-Julien, the 1989 Château Gruaud Larose offers a smorgasbord-like array of red and black fruits, saddle leather, cigar box, and smoke tobacco. Medium-bodied and nicely concentrated, with good mid-palate density, it's not the most elegant wine and still has some present tannins, but it sure brings plenty of character. It opens up nicely with time in the glass as well, and while it's unquestionably drinking at point, it certainly has another 15 years of evolution.

90pts Vinous

The 1989 Gruaud Larose is a wine that I have tasted a dozen or so times since back in 2001, most recently in 2012. The bottle was poured against several Californian wines that might be unfair, however, I do feel that this vintage has maybe peaked several years ago. Here it was well defined on the nose as usual, with scents of undergrowth, sandalwood and a touch of sage. It certainly lacks the joie-de-vivre that I expect. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannin, nicely judged acidity and quite compact black fruit, though this is a little more staid than before, certainly lacking the flamboyance of the 1990 Gruaud (for example). It is a thoroughly decent Gruaud that just fails to engage the same way as previous examples. Tasted over dinner at Chez Bruce.

Winemaker Notes

The wine is full bodied, but elegant with lots of fruit when young. The wine ages very well and develops all the characteristics of a great Bordeaux. Blend : 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot.