I last tried this wine approximately 10 years ago (perfectly cellared at Levana's restaurant) and it was already well on its way to wine heaven. It was a damn good wine back in its day (as was the '89; from '94 on they went mevushal and the wine turned to absolute crap). I have fond childhood memories of my father buying this wine for yom tov and special occasions. It sold for close to $30 which was a fortune for a bottle of wine back then. On the other hand, the choices for good kosher wine back then were either the Rothschild or Yarden/Gamla--at least until some fabulous French wines came out from the '89 vintage (Grand Noyer, Giscours Margaux, etc.) and Gan Eden came on the scene.
When I was in Yeshiva in Israel in the late 90s, I scored a few cases of the '89 Rothschild for a really good price and they drank wonderfully through 2000 or so--helped get me through those yeshiva years
