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Tasting notes
Bottled in 2018, the 1989 Bual offers up an attractive bouquet of dried figs, beeswax furniture polish, mocha and sultanas that gains in coherence and amplitude with aeration. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, bright and incisive, with a delicately textural attack and good concentration at the core, built around a tangy spine of acidity that lends superb drive to the long, penetrating finish. Oxygen really is this Bual's friend, as the wine was quite tight on opening and came into its own after 48 hours.
Critic scores
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Jancis Robinson MW
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
The 1989 Bual from Cossart Gordon (bottled in 2018) has a fragrant bouquet with scents of grilled walnut, cigar box, touches of eau de vie and juniper berries, all very well defined and displaying ample intensity. The well-balanced palate offers nutmeg and allspice and shows lovely weight. Certainly one of the most elegant of Blandy's Buals in recent years. Maybe a little more complexity on the aftertaste would have merited a higher appraisal, but this is compensated with wonderful freshness. Recommended. 735 bottles made. Tasted at John E. Fells portfolio tasting in London.
Bottled 2018. Shaded pale greenish tawny with a pale rim. Rich, tangy nose larded with rancio and masses of acidity. By now this wine doesn't actually taste all that sweet. We served it with a very rich cake with chocolate and marzipan but it would probably be better with hard cheese and walnuts. Starts with a hint of treacle toffee and is then very long and vibrant. Twangy (not a misprint for tangy) and very lively. (JR)