Tasting Notes:
92 points John Gilman
According to Robert Parker back in the late 1980s and early 1990s (the era when I used to read him regularly), the 1988 Château Rauzan-Ségla was the second great vintage produced here during the estate’s renaissance, with the 1986 the first superb wine here in a generation to his mind. While I would peg the renaissance here back to at least the 1982 (as the 1983 and 1985 vintages of Rauzan-Ségla are also stellar wines), I do share Monsieur Parker’s unbridled enthusiasm for the 1988. This most recent bottle was beautiful and just starting to really hit on all cylinders, wafting from the glass in a mix of black raspberries, cigar ash, charred hardwood, dark soil tones and gently toasty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and just reaching its plateau of maturity, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil signature and grip, ripe, buried tannins and a long, very well balanced finish. This is a lovely wine. (9/2020)
91 points Wine Advocate
A very strong, powerful wine with an opaque ruby/purple color and a tight but promising bouquet of black currants intermixed with iron, smoke, licorice, and dried herbs, this muscular, very masculine, brawny wine seems built for the long haul. Will it ever shed all of its tannin? (RP) (1/2003)
91 points Vinous
The 1988 Rauzan-Ségla is a blend of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon and 26% Merlot, which apparently suffered a little coulure that year. Readers should note that it was tasted from a freshly poured bottle and one that had been decanted for one hour, simply for comparison purposes. Now this has a flipping gorgeous bouquet with precocious fruit for a 1988, mulberry and touches of peppermint verging on eucalyptus. The palate perhaps has not quite kept up the nose, yet it remains fresh and ‘solid’ with firm tannin, truffle tinged black fruit intermingling with cedar and undergrowth. This is certainly the best of three or four bottles that I have tried over the years and having tasted several other vintages from this era, one of the best of the decade. (NM) (5/2018)
90 points Wine Spectator
Raspberry and dark chocolate on the nose. Full-bodied, with a solid core of fruit and mint, berry and raspberry flavors. A little tight right now. Decant an hour or two before serving. Improving with age still. (JS) (6/2009)
Bottle Size:
750 mL
Storage History:
Always stored properly in a climate controlled cellar.
Condition:
Excellent.
Please note: The bottle shown in the photos is the exact bottle being sold.
Several photos have been taken from different angles in order to exhibit the bottle’s exact condition.
