All I can say is if you visit Napa you should check this out in Lodi Lane. Wine is not sold outside of California. Damn!
Good winemakers made great wine in 1998. Most winemakers made good wine in 1998. Most of it is ready to drink *now*. The press - and I mostly blame James Laube, who has yet to email me to set up lunch sometime - dismissed
1998 before it even arrived. Most of my friends that pour and drink a lot of wine don't think 1998 was all that bad. It's *California*, afterall.Dana
I'd like to poliitely disagree. =)
Mostly, 1998 was an off year for profits. I've actually been enjoying quite a few '98s lately, most of the ones I've tried were more than adequate, the problem was that they hit the markets at the same (or even higher) price as 1997, which was ridiculous enough in 97. Now that they're often being dumped at 30-60% discounts, they're decent QPR.
Actually, I even prefer some '98s. They're not as over the top in many cases. A lot of 1997s were a bit flabby for my liking, where '98s are often better-balanced. They're definitely pretty soft overall, however, so I wouldn't put them away as long.
I'm not sure what you mean. If you mean a lot of good wine was made in 1998 and it's mostly ready to drink now, I don't disagree at all.
If you mean that 1998 was as consistent as 1997, I suppose we do disagree :-). That's really the sharp contrast I see.
Dana
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