TN: 1998 St Emilion

Nov 03, 2006 4 Replies
D

Betsy was working last night, I made leg of lamb with roasted potatoes and sauteed spinach for Dave and I. Needed Bordeaux for my lamb, opened the 1998 Vieux Fortin (St. Emilion). I had been a little disappointed in this before, so had expectations well in check. This bottle showed much better than previous ones. Nose of flowers and cassis with a little vanilla; the palate is more red-fruited, raspberry and plum with some earth. Flinty minerals on the reasonably long finish. First of these I've thought were actually a deal at the low$20s price. B+


Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.



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T

As a matter of interest when do you open the last one? I am finding that most of my 98 Saint-Emilions will still benefit from more time — even at Grand Cru level and, of course, Vieux Fortin is planted to a fairly high proportion of Cabernet which will probably increase that tendency anyway.

Cheers

Tim

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D

Couple of years ago, probably was just in a closed phase. I think most of my earlier drinking modern 1998 St Ems (things like du Cauze, Dassault, etc) are drinking well now, while more structured modern ones like Faugeres, Clos de l'Oratoire, Pavie-Decesse, etc need time (and certainly the more traditional ones like Figeac and Soutard need time).

Timothy Hartley wrote:

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G

I opened a 1997 Cap de Faugères (Côtes de Castillon) last night and your description applies except no trace of vanilla and there was a faint hint of cassis on the palate. At ~US$14.50, I thought it a real bargain. I hadn't been expecting much and this was one of those really pleasant surprises. I think there's still some left at the store. Graham

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