4. Chateau dÝquem 1989: This dark amber coloured wine is a mature vintage. It has begun to taste its best now. Spicy and marmalade intense aromas are abundant. Noble rot expresses very well. It explodes in the mouth like fireworks. Sugar takes the back stage under the structure and elegance. It almost does not taste like a sweet wine at all.

Coming back to my tasting of ´89, Sanjay did admit to me in private that the bottle had been ordered from the Taj on the spur of moment and had perhaps being stored unattended and unsupervised (read no temp. control!) and I was not wrong for having been turned off. Discussing the experience with Sandrine later, it was interesting to know that ´the 1984 has been, at best, a difficult and poor vintage ( the chateau even skips turning out a vintage some years, like 1992) and improper storage would bruise the wine significantly.

All the wines tasted will improve from the next 50-100 years. You might want to buy a half bottle from Berry Bros. in London for US $ 365 ('01), US $105 (`99), US $ 385 (´97) or US $ 140 (`89). Shopping around in London will get you savings of 15-20%. Drink it now or leave it for your children or grand children as a legacy (proper storage is strongly recommended).

AS sandrine put it,´there is sculpture in our wines. Only time liberates it . But as I write this Article from my hotel room in Jerej, Spain a day after the event, the taste still lingers on.

Subhash Arora
May 30, 2006