Readers may still be able to find some of Guigal's 1989 Hermitage in the marketplace. Now that it has been in the bottle several years, the wine has taken on some firmness and the tannin appears more noticeable. Less concentrated than the knock-out 1990, the 1989 reveals a tight but promising nose of minerals, blackcurrants, and roasted herbs, great richness, full body, and significant power and tannin. Importer: Classic Wines, Boston, MA; Tel. (617) 731-6644

A youthful, intense Hermitage that shows a lot of spicy oak at this stage, but concentrated black cherry and currant flavors underneath mark it as a serious candidate for the cellar. It's rare to find this much flavor, but the tannins and obvious oak not 4,000 cases made. -