A wide nose of nicely maturing aromas mixed with earth. The palate is lithe, linear and of moderate length. It’s clean and quite interesting.
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Thomas-Moillard
1998 Thomas-Moillard Vosne-Romanée Les Malconsorts
A rather unnattractively muddy, if deep mahogany red colour. The nose is high-toned but the fruit seems a little cooked in profile, wide but unappealing in a stewed tea kind of way. The tannin rather sticks out and I suppose that this was one of those hideously astringent 98’s in it’s first couple of years, but the tannins have moderated – if only a little. The acidity is quite clean and good and eventually you find the one redeeming feature of the wine; nice fruit in the finish with a creamy edge and an understated length. Only two more lie in the cellar, fortunately, and I expect that in the normal Thomas-Moillard style they won’t be close to mature for at least another 10 years. I think they will always be rather uncouth and lacking style. Shame, as the starting material hints of much more potential. It’s very rare that I ‘waste’ wine, but this bottle was poured down the sink on day 2…
1998 Thomas-Moillard Bonnes-Mares
Quite deep colour. Nose is quite wide but not so deep it really needs time to extend itself. Likewise this was a little disappointing on the palate when first opened – more a village standard. It was really about 90 minutes before this wine was singing, and I really liked the tune, both nose and palate expanded in all directions. There’s plenty of tannin, but not particularly astringent and has the fruit to match. Long in the finish – I was disappointed at the start, but sorry to see this finished. If you go for it, take 2 hours in a decanter, it’s young but it’s also very, very promising.
1998 Thomas-Moillard Romanée Saint-Vivant
From the get-go, this is a more interesting wine than the Bonnes-Mares. More of everything vs how the Bonnes-Mares started. There’s a really cracking creamy depth to the fruit (I waited for 90 minutes in a decanter) that sustains an excellent finish, the tannins are softer but still large-scale. Today I marginally prefer the peaking Bonnes-Mares, as by the last sip it outstrips this RSV – looks like an interesting match-up over the next few years – I’ll have another look in 4 or 5 years.