100
James Suckling - Wine Spectator
"This is one of my favorite wines ever. Full-bodied, with layers of silky fruit and masses of currant, mineral and berry character. Amazing. It's a wine with perfect structure, perfect strength. It's 1961 Latour in modern clothes. It's hard not to drink it now. '89/'90 Bordeaux non-blind horizontal."
98 Antonio Galloni - Vinous
Tasting the 1990 Latour is like running into a long-lost friend. Still dark, deep and spectacularly flamboyant, the 1990 possesses remarkable textural richness from the very first taste. Time in the glass brings out a whole range of pencil shaving, dark fruit, chocolate, licorice and spice flavors, but more than anything else, the 1990 is a wine of pure and total voluptuousness. While I never think of wine as a competition, the 1990 is quite a bit more complex, layered and intriguing than the 1982 served alongside it at the same charity dinner. Its longevity will ultimately be determined by the quality of the cork and storage conditions, as the wine has several decades of truly exceptional drinking still to offer. In a word: magnificent!
98 Jeb Dunnuck - jebdunnuck.com
A classic, powerful, regal Latour, the 1990 is solidly in its drink window and has a still-ruby hue as well as a gorgeous perfume of darker currants, tobacco leaf, new saddle leather, and graphite. It opens up beautifully with air and has the perfect mix of great fruit and purity with mature and complex, cedary nuances. Full-bodied on the palate, perfectly balanced, and with sweet yet still present tannins, it can safely be enjoyed any time over the coming 40-50 years.
98 Jeff Leve - The Wine Cellar Insider
As this ages, it continues improving, filling out, softening and gaining in nuances. Now you find oceanic nuances interspersed with creme de cassis, cigar box, lead pencil, wet soil and leafy complexities. The wine is full- deep, long and regal, with a present tannic backbone and the structure for at least 2-3 more decades of aging.
98 Neal Martin - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The nose is quite perplexing at first, perhaps because one notices how decayed the fruit is. But the secondary characteristics that gradually show their faces more than compensate: leather, dried herbs, pencil box and hot roof tiles. Opens beautifully with time, developing a scent of wild mint after 30 minutes. The palate is full-bodied, firm tannins, powerful but decaying black fruits with leather, graphite and tobacco. A “burly” but affable Latour that embraces some Pomerol characteristics, but suffuses them subtly rather than allowing them to dominate. Gorgeous. Drink now-2025+ Tasted June 2009.