1990 was an overripe vintage in many ways, and showed extremely well when it young, but was so ripe and seductive that the wines didn't always last. Issan clearly has lasted better than many, still showing concentrated dark fruits of cassis and blackberry, with earthy liquorice, rosehip, tobacco, slight brett on the finish but well hidden among the complexity. 100% 1st wine from the Clos. Harvest September 22 to October 5, 50hl/h yield. Far less sediment than the 1985, this is still in no rush to be drunk up.

The 1990 vintage of Château d’Issan is quite emblematic of this era at the estate, as it is not as elegant an interpretation of the terroir here as the wine from 1995 forwards. As I have also found with the handful of wines I have tasted from the estate in the decade of the 1980s, the 1990 is a bit tarry in personality and was probably not produced from anywhere near as careful a selection as the wines from 1995 forwards. The bouquet is just a bit rustic in profile, but offers up very good complexity in its mix of cassis, bell pepper, a touch of road tar, sweet cigar wrapper, espresso, dark soil tones and a bit of charred wood. On the palate the wine is deep, fullbodied and quite broad-shouldered for d’Issan, with a good core of fruit, a fairly extracted personality, firm, slightly hard tannins and good length and grip on the complex, but rustic finish. One gets the sense that with the same savoir-faire here in 1990 that existed in the new millennium, this would have been special, instead of just pretty solid. It is still a bit chewy, but certainly approachable at age twenty-four, and I suspect that a bit of these tannins are always going to be part of the equation on the palate here, so it is not a bad time to be drinking this wine- though it still has plenty of years ahead of it. This is quite old-fashioned in styleparticularly in comparison to the wines being produced today- but, it is not bad at all. 2014- 2035+.