Along with Leoville Barton 1990 this is one half of one of the great contrasting Bordeaux pairs. The 1989 has always been a more upright wine, slightly strict. The kind of claret that never really takes it coat off but you get the sense that there is a brightly coloured shirt underneath. It is still deep and dark at over 30 years of age. It is initially quite tight and needs well over an hour in the decanter to show its promise. Wonderful breath on the palate. The tannin is well integrated but there is no hiding that this wine is still very young. There is a concentration here that leads me to think that the wine is still not at its peak. It is very enjoyable now with plenty of air but I suspect you will not miss the wine if you still have some in the cellar in two decades time. Drinking Window: 2023 - 2040
Tasted by: Gareth Birchley (at London, 15 Feb 2023)
Part of Bordeaux 1980s: Vintage guides plus the wines to seek out

The 1989 Leoville Barton is deep garnet-brick in color. It jumps from the glass with notes of unsmoked cigars, warm cassis, new leather, and iron ore, followed by hints of dried bay leaves and crushed rocks. Medium-bodied, the palate is intense, spicy, and impactful, delivering loads of mature fruit layers and a lively backbone, with a sturdy, chewy texture and a long, mineral-laced finish. Lisa Perrotti-Brown Dec 2023 - The Wine Independent

A delicious, well-structured Bordeaux, with plenty of ripe fruit, beautiful berry, green tobacco and cherry character. Full-bodied, adding velvety tannins and a long, caressing finish.--1989 Bordeaux horizontal. James Suckling

The bottle of 1989 Léoville-Barton is probably the best I have encountered over the years; indeed, it is better than a bottle opened by Lilian Barton-Sartorius when I visited the property a few weeks earlier. It has a comely old-school claret bouquet of red fruit infused with cedar and loamy scents, and maybe some dustiness, but I have come to expect that in older vintages of this Saint-Julien. The palate is medium-bodied, pure and elegant, with svelte tannin and moderate acidity and a surprisingly sweet, almost precocious finish thanks to that year’s hot summer. It has softened in recent years and yet there is still good backbone and grip to this wine. Just enjoy. Tasted at the 1989 Bordeaux dinner at Hatched in London.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 01/01/2003
This wine continues to lose out to its younger sibling, the 1990. Aromatically, the dark garnet (some amber is beginning to creep in at the edge) 1989 seems fully mature until it hits the palate. There is big, spicy, cedary, sweet cherry and black currant fruit, along with some tobacco notes in the impressive aromatics. On the palate, the wine is more narrowly constructed, medium-bodied, with excellent richness on the attack but then some relatively dry, dusty tannins in the finish. This kind of performance tends to suggest the wine needs to be drunk sooner rather than later. Anticipated maturity: Now-2016. Last tasted, 9/01.

In most tastings of the 1989 and 1990 vintages I have had a strong preference for the 1990, but in this tasting the 1989 provided the most charming drinking with its soft, voluptuous texture, big, spicy, cedary nose, sweet, expansive fruit, medium body, and excellent richness and purity. The wine reveals no amber at the edge, but it tastes surprisingly evolved and already delicious. I would not hesitate to drink it over the next 12-15+ years.

(90)

Cranky, old-school, austere wine with firm, rustic tannins and a big dose of cedar, tobacco leaf, bright, crisp, crunchy red fruits, and a lean, bordering on severe finish. Nov 2021