1988 Canon la Gaffeliere
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Tasting notes
Tasted at the château, the 1988 Château Canon-La-Gaffelière is a brilliant wine that’s drinking at point today, with no upside. Still healthy ruby hued with just a touch of bricking, it has medium-bodied aromas and flavors of ripe currants, tobacco leaf, leather, and rose petals. With beautiful complexity and elegance, as well as resolved tannins, it’s going to shine on the dinner table over the coming decade.
Critic scores
Average Score
Wine Spectator
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
This splendidly perfumed 1988 offers up a veritable smorgasbord of aromas, ranging from smoky, toasty, new oak, to jammy, blackcurrants, and oriental spices. In the mouth, it is full-bodied, seductively round, expansively flavored, with a luscious and velvety finish. This gorgeously made, highly extracted wine should drink well for the next 8-10 years. Anticipated maturity: Now-2004.
Shows pretty tobacco, prune and mushroom aromas that follow through to a medium body, with soft, round tannins and a fresh finish. Turns to milk chocolate and berries. Very ready.¿'88/'98 Bordeaux blind retrospective (2008). Drink now. 7,500 cases made. – James Suckling, Wine Spectator 2009
The 1988 has everything the 1989 possesses, in addition to definition, structure, and greater depth and concentration. This splendidly perfumed wine offers up a veritable smorgasbord of aromas, ranging from smoky, toasty, new oak, to jammy black currants and Asian spices. In the mouth, it is full bodied, seductively round, and expansively flavored, with a luscious and velvety, long, heady finish. This is a gorgeously made, rich, wonderfully pure, highly extracted wine that should drink well for the next 10-12 years. Smart consumers will be buying cases of this sumptuous St.-Emilion. Anticipated maturity: Now-2004. Last tasted, 11/97. Robert Parker, Bordeaux Book, 3rd Edition # B1
About the producer
Owned by the Von Niepperg family (along with one of the original garage wines, La Mondotte), Ch. Canon-la-Gaffelière is known for its opulent, plush style of Saint-Emilion and high percentage of Cabernet.