Light garnet with a hint of mahogany and brick rim. A perfectly aged claret nose of currant dried fig anise sweet tobacco and cigar box develops after 20 minutes of aeration. Dried plum and tobacco dominate the front palate making way for woodsy spice on the mid-palate. Healthy acids and angular tannins are still keeping this wine lively on the palate with a creamy oak finish that prolongs the sensory experience. Drinking well at this juncture this will cellar for another 3 to 6 years.

If you have given up on the 1989 vintage for California Cabernet think again. Beringer's 1989 Private Reserve is one of the stars of the vintage. Unlike many of the hollow aggressively tannic 1989s this dark-colored wine is loaded with rich chocolatey blackcurrant fruit and spicy toasty oak. Although it reveals harder tannin than is found in the 1990 and 1991 the tannin is not out of balance. This long rich full-bodied impressively-endowed Cabernet Sauvignon will benefit from 2-3 more years of cellaring; it will keep for 15 more years.