Again very deep colour. More oak on the nose than any of the previous wines. Still, there is smooth cherry pie behind this oak. Lots of volume in the mouth, and lots of tannin to – but quite silky. Nice acidity and very long.
Comments for this entry
1998
1998 de Villaine A&P Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise La Digoine
Light ruby with definite hints of maturity – looks quite ‘fragile’ in the glass. The nose is relatively muted with strawberries and raspberries pushing through the undergrowth. The palate is a lovely thick and sweet thing with red berry fruits dominating. Perfect acidity and almost resolved tannin. This wine is only spoiled by a slight bitterness to the palate. Starting to drink nicely now, hopefully the bitterness will diminish, though to be fair it’s much less obvious with food.
1998 Gouges Henri Nuits St.Georges Les Pruliers
Medium-full cherry colour, still with purple hints. Nose starts with toasty oak which quickly blows off to reveal faint spice and earthy notes set against a background of high toned black cherry. This wine is quite fat with grainy tannins and long, fresh acidity. The predominantly cherry fruit is also nicely persistent and has good depth, though shows no complexity at this stage. This is a very good wine.
1998 Dancer Vincent Pommard Perrières
Quite deep ruby colour. Nose has a nice depth of red and black cherry, earthy with traces of coffee. The palate shows sweet, concentrated cherry fruit. There’s very good acidity, well covered smooth tannins and a trace of vanilla-oak on the finish. Perhaps a modern, more extracted style, but with a successful delivery, certainly the oak’s not overdone. Very good.
1998 Gouges Henri Nuits St.Georges Les Pruliers
Medium-full cherry colour, still with purple hints. Nose starts with toasty oak which quickly blows off to reveal faint spice and earthy notes set against a background of high toned black cherry. This wine is quite fat with grainy tannins and long, fresh acidity. The predominantly cherry fruit is also nicely persistent and has good depth, though shows no complexity at this stage. This is a very good wine.
1998 Hudelot-Noellat Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots
Deep ruby colour, more mature looking than anticipated. Some high toast oak though not overpowering, behind it there is cherry, ‘mixed spice’ and coffee. In the mouth, very smooth though oaky. Good acidity and still some tannin, though quite refined. There is cherry fruit and a particularly long vanilla crème finish. Provided over the next 5+ years it puts on a bit more weight in the mid-palate, this will be exceptionally good.
1998 Angerville Marquis d' Volnay Clos des Ducs
Dark cherry still with purple hints. Nose is reticent but there is red cherry in there somewhere. The palate is cool and silky with very good fruit density, lovely acidity and perhaps slightly harsh finishing tannin. Good, pure length too, I find this an excellent wine, but it will be much better in 3-5 years.
1998 Pavelot Jean-Marc et Hugues Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Dominode
Medium ruby colour, lighter at the rim. Nose has sweet medium toast oak obscuring some plummy fruit at the bottom and just a lift of raspberry on the end. For a vintage so badly maligned about ‘rough’ tannins, this is superbly smooth with velvet tannins. The acidity is long and lingering together with good density red fruits. This wine is very primary still, but very enjoyable for all that. Given a couple of hours, the acidity becomes a little astringent in the finish – no problem with food though. Still very good