Description

When tasted in March, 1996, I was not convinced the 1995 La Mission was better than the exceptional 1994, but an additional nine months of cask aging has unleashed the wine's more powerful, richer, riper, sweeter fruit, as well as its more glycerin-endowed, fuller-bodied personality. The dark saturated purple color is followed by aromas of sweet, earthy fruit, but the wine has not yet taken on the additional smoky, tobacco, roasted herb complexity of a great Graves. With low acidity and chewy, full-bodied flavors, this intense 1995 appears to be a top-class La Mission-Haut-Brion, not far off the mark established by the profound 1989 and superb 1990. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2020.