Pale golden. The nose shows hints of grapefruit and a faint oxidative note – though certainly not oxidised – together with high-toned alcoholic notes. Some sweetness in the mouth, racy and lithe, quite linear. Good persistence and surprisingly little obvious ‘97 character. Despite showing very little overt fruit character this is a young wine. Interesting and no rush to drink.
Medium ruby-red. The nose starts a little meaty taking time to become more and more legant – the last sips have beautiful red fruit – quite haunting. The palate is almost good with ripe fruit of reasonable density, but less than perfect balance – particularly in the acidity department. Coarse and slightly anonymous to start, though lots of air reveals lots of wine. Finishes well, I won’t rush my last 4 bottles…
Deep ruby-red, fades to mahogany at the rim. The nose is forward and feral; coffee and chocolate covered leaves mix with roast meat. This is a surprisingly subtle wine, the concentration quickly creeping up on you into the mid-palate – and good concentration it is – but disappearing way-too fast in the finish. Furry, velvety tannins that are well-balanced to the rest of the wine. In isolation, not bad, if rather anonymous, but this was drunk with Mortet’s ’98 villages Gevrey, and on this day, everyone preferred the Mortet…
Highly rated by Coates on release this wine tightened up and hid it’s charms very soon afterwards – most bottles were disappointing until last year when it looked like it might be turning the corner. Today it shows a medium-plus ruby-red colour. Cool, the nose is imbued with a hint of roast coffee and faint plum. As it warms, high-toned red berry fruit and red-currant is released. The palate gives a ripe impression, but still manages to serve-up sour cherry with a caramel edged finish. Still on the up, without a doubt the best bottle from this case.
Medium-minus ruby-red colour. Fresh nose that’s surprisingly tight for the vintage. Much more depth than the nose would suggest, clean, sweet and ripe flavours that open out on the mid-palate before fading into a nice medium-length finish that shows a lovely redcurrant note. Hard to fault, but it’s only the finish that holds the interest.
A wine that set the tone (hue) for the colour of the other wines – despite it’s relative youth, this wine was an old mahogany colour of medium-plus depth. On opening, this wine showed mushroom, forest-floor, inflections of soil, a deep peppery undertone and eventually a baked cherry note. Less round than the 2002 – the acidity sticks out a little. There is good length and weight, but the elements are somewhat disparate. This was actually the only wine that required extended air-time to show its potential. One hour later there was more harmony, less mushroom and a very strong ‘family’ resemblance to the wines that followed it. Don’t be disappointed if you have this wine – I wouldn’t be!
Golden. The nose starts in a healthy way with tight, clean, mineral and citrus aspects, though becomes much more diffuse as it warms in the glass. It’s an almost sweet and sour experience, the ripe fruit providing the sweetness and the rustic acidity giving the sour aspect. The weather was hot and this was drunk to the end. Overall I’d say almost good, but keep it chilled.
Impressively deep colour – quite ruby, no amber at the edge yet. The nose is equally deep, red fruit with a black edge, also hiding in the background is a little toasty oak, but it’s all-but gone. The palate has sweet, fat, ripe fruit, it’s dense, and certainly quite intense. The black aspect on the nose is a little stronger on the palate – good complexity and tannins that hint more to 98 than 97. If there’s a bug-bear it might be the acidity, it seems a little too much to the fore. It’s reasonably fresh, and I’ll leave the last couple for another 3 or 4 years before revisiting.
You are using an outdated browser. Please update your browser to view this website correctly: https://browsehappy.com/;