The 1989 d’Issan is a bit more elegant than the 1990, but it too is stylistically still a bit caught up in the ancienne regime at the estate. The wine offers up a deep and slightly roasted bouquet of black cherries, cassis, woodsmoke, cigar wrapper, a bit of walnut, lovely soil tones, incipient notes of summer truffle and tobacco leaf in the upper register. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and nicely lively with sound acids. The core is deep and pure, the tannins, still a bit chewy, but better integrated than the 1990, with fine focus and good length and grip on the complex finish. Again, by today’s standards, this is just a touch short of elegance, but it is a good drink and probably the best Château d’Issan of the decade of the 1980s. (Drink between 2014-2035)