Community Tasting Notes 27

• Cailles wrote: 91 points

  December 18, 2022 - 16x Right Bank Bordeaux 1998: Almost 25 years later, it’s a great time to check in on the wines of the much lauded right bank vintage. All wines tasted single blind. A few observations: A) most wines showed quite open with a melted tannin structure, but still good tension across the board. B) The highlight was rather on the structural side (elegance and finesse in most wines), than on the aromatic depth side, which was limited, also due to… C) …the fact that there is limited tertiary expression yet. Most wines will need at least another 5 to rather 10 years to reach their peak. D) An average rating of 91.9pts in my book and 92.0pts for the group shows that despite a few highlights, the reception was mixed overall. E) Best wines today were Angelus (group average 94.9pts), Valandraud (94.4) and Cheval Blanc (94.0). I would put L’Evangile (rated 95pts) in the top category too but the group (average 92.6) was less enthusiastic.
  
  TN: Medium- expressive nose displaying mostly dark berries, herbs. The palate is silky and round, with a fine potpourri of red and dark berries, herbs and some leavy notes. Fine, round. Overall this is a bit light and lean but still quite pleasant to drink today.
  
  Decanting: Decanted for probably 2-3 hours which worked well.
  
  Group score: 90.9
  Group rank: 11th out of 16 reds

  Comment

• sirpat00 wrote: 92 points

  November 26, 2022 - Bordeaux Right Bank 1998 tasting (Essenz (Brugg)): Bordeaux right bank 1998 tasting. All wines were served single blind and were decanted several hours. The sample showed i/ generally healthy and structured wines, still quite primary with further aging potential; ii/ the overall performance was below expectations considering the repute of the vintage for the right bank (although this may be due to the very long aeration), iii/ top wine for me were 1. Valandrau (95), 2. L’Evangile (95), 3. Angélus (94) while for the group the ranking was 1. Angélus (94.9), 2. Valandrau (94.4), 3. Cheval Blanc (94.0). Complete list including group scores included in the tasting story.
  
  Tasting note:
  Mushrooms, earth, fine spice, dried leaves, sous-bois and fine red cherry fruit, although after a while a tad unripe. Couldn’t help but noting a bit of fatigue here unfortunately. Good tension, more acidity driven palate. Decent length but balance not ideal. Tannins soft but could have done with a bit more structure.

  Comment

• La Sprezzatura wrote: 91 points

  November 26, 2022 - 1998 Horizontal Bordeaux Right Bank Tasting (private) (Essen'z): All wines were tasted single blind and were decanted before tasting. 14 right bank bordeaux and 2 pirates. All wines were from the vintage 1998.
  
  General observations:
  Unfortunately, the tasting was below my expectations. The was no real "wow-effect" at any wines as I had with the left bank tasting 1982-1990 we had a year ago. So I had to find out, that, me, personally, I like more the aged left than the aged right banks. In the end, Ridge Montebello (pirate) ended even up being the wine of the night for me.
  
  _______
  
  TN:
  bouquet: really vegetable-like, paprika, pepper, some cigar box, seemed almost like a 100% cab franc
  
  on the palate rather fresh, compact, tannins medium and for the first time this night not drying, still nothing to freak out about

  Comment

• Jeff Leve wrote: 89 points

  September 10, 2020 - Medium-bodied, fully developed, refined, soft, earthy, truffle laden wine with sweet plums, cherries, spice tobacco and earthy notes. This is probably a bit past its prime. So if you are sitting on any, drink up.

  1 person found this helpful Comment

• apple1813 Likes this wine: 90 points

  January 4, 2020 - 1998 Château Rouget was fully mature with great development of tertiary characteristics. The deep garnet colour, significant amber rim and large amount of sediments reflected its twenty years of age. The nose was dominated by leather, anise, preserved Chinese tangerine and dried tangerine peel, with fruity notes of dried blueberries playing a supporting role. On the palate, it was full-bodied with medium level of acidity and mature supple tannin. The long finish was packed with flavours of black olives, ceder wood and dried plum flavours.
  I was pleasantly surprised by the top-notch wine storage of Hong Kong Wine Vault, with high fill level on the neck, and pristine label. Bottles properly stored should show beautiful bouquet and softened tannin.

  Comment

Pro Reviews 1

Wine Definition

• Vintage 1998
• Type Red
• Producer Château Rouget
• Varietal Red Bordeaux Blend
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard n/a
• Country France
• Region Bordeaux
• SubRegion Libournais
• Appellation Pomerol
• UPC Code 400009727784

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 12 (3%)
• In Cellars 219 (51%)
• Consumed 202 (47%)

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