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Bordeaux right bank 1998 tasting. 16 wines including Petrus, Cheval Blanc and VCC
Copenhagen, Denmark
Tasted June 14, 2018 by M.S.L. with 562 views
Introduction
A very nice and educating evening with many lovely wines. The theme was chosen to bring a vintage in focus where the right bankers apparently did very well while the left bank had less success. We thought it was interesting to taste the wines at 20 years of age so the smaller wines would still be alive and the big wines would hopefully have woken from their long sleep. The dinner took place at Restaurant Palægade where we were in the safest of hands. Lovely food and wine service and highly recommended.
Flight 1 - Mainly Saint-Emilions (4 notes)
Red
1998 Château Beausejour (Duffau Lagarrosse)
89 points
A little tight, not as fruit driven as the others in the flight. Good but not terribly exciting
Red
1998 Gracia
90 points
Difficult to describe this wine, but it felt a bit wrong but not faulty. It opens up a little, but still not a wine I am in love with. Had the elements though.
Red
1998 Tertre Rôteboeuf
95 points
Terrific wine. The smell is right up my alley although I can understand why others would find this to be a bit over the top. Truffles, hung meat and surmature fruit on the nose. Very nice balance and length. Yes it is modern, but in a good way, I think. Best wine of the flight by a wide margin.
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Comment
Red
1998 Château La Croix du Casse
92 points
Soft and perhaps a bit undramatic. More ready than the other three bottles in the flight. Less massive than the others in the flight, but fine balance and good fruit.
Flight 2 - Saint-Emilions (4 notes)
Red
1998 Château Cheval Blanc
98 points
In the beginning quite shy, but then it wakes up as a lovely wine in absolute balance. I have had this wine three times and it has, to me, shown different characteristics each time. This time it doesn't seem as open and you have to really pay attention to not overlook its virtues. However it is again an absolute beauty. Fun to have this wine in the same flight as the dramatic but also excellent Angelus. The introvert meets the extrovert.
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Comment
Red
1998 Château Ausone
96 points
Like the Cheval Blanc in the same flight also a bit shy in the beginning. It does wake wake up and it is a lovely wine in the less decadent style.
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Comment
Red
1998 Château Pavie
85 points
Maybe I just don't understand this style of wine or maybe this was not the best example of this wine. To me it felt alcoholic (I'm sensitive to that) and just over the top in a not good way. The Angelus in the same flight was also modern, but in a much more charming way.
Red
1998 Château Angélus
96 points
Excellent wine. Nose is hedonistic and fruity. In the mouth great length and still good balance with dark fruits that are certainly mature. It is not like the Tertre Rotebeouf in the first flight, but both are very modern but in a good way and I find them both lovely.
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Comments (4)
Flight 3 - Pomerols (4 notes)
Red
1998 Château Certan de May
86 points
This wine did not show very well, although the competition in the flight might have made it hard for it to shine. Thin and without lenght or much going on. A disappointment tonight.
Red
1998 Clos l'Église (Pomerol)
93 points
Modern and soft, perhaps without something truly special to show, but it appears balanced and with good persistence. Quite a good wine, but next to the VCC, it had a hard time impressing.
Red
1998 Château L'Evangile
94 points
Perhaps I was a little hard on this wine, but I felt the slightest alcoholic warmth, which I am not a fan of. Other than that it was a beautiful wine and i normally really like this Chateau. Others at the table liked this wine better than me and I might also in the future.
Red
1998 Vieux Château Certan
98 points
Oh my oh my this is crazy good. I really love this Chateau and had high expectations, but still this wine exceeded them and was just extremely good. I don't know how to describe it, but really great wines like this seem to just land in your mouth as if they were invited to do a tour of the cave. This one leaving a stain of luxurious creamy fruit and great beauty behind in every corner for a very long time. Perfect cocentration and balance and I only do not score it higher because I feel that there is more to come with a little more age.
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Comment
Flight 4 - Pomerols (4 notes)
Red
1998 Pétrus
97 points
This wine is not ready yet. We sat with it for a long time and it did not change and did not invite you in to interpret its goods. Massive and easily with 50 years to go, when in this shape at the age of 20. I don't know what I would do if I owned this wine. Maybe someone will be born in the next twenty years who can enjoy it before they retire? Perhaps this is how the big 1928's showed in the 1940's?
Red
1998 Château Lafleur
96 points
Much more ready than the Petrus in the same flight, but still structured. A weird elderflower smell came through that I was almost embarrased to mention, but luckily I was not the only one who picked it up. Otherwise a lovely wine with many more years to reach full maturity.
Red
1998 Château L'Eglise-Clinet
96 points
Massive wine with great power and only just starting to show what it has to offer. Almost too massive at this point, but a great wine that I bet will give lots of pleasure in the future.
Red
1998 Château Trotanoy
98 points
A really lovely and completely delicious wine in absolute balance. Right now the best wine of Petrus, Lafleur and Eglise-Clinet in the same flight. Bravo!
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Comment
Closing
This was the first time I experienced a focused one vintage tasting from Saint-Emilion and Pomerol. It was very interesting to experience the different approaches to winemaking. Many modern wines were delicious, but it was also in this category where the few bad wines were found. The wines that was made more traditionally - in lack of a better way to put it - in general did very well, but some were perhaps too young. VCC and Trotanoy were magnificent and they were my favorites on the night. Should I pick only one it would be the VCC. Interestingly an almost similar tasting held in Belgium earlier this year also had VCC as the winner.