Three french wines from 1998

[jal]

Dinner at home with company Saturday night.

With a small shellfish platter and roasted vegetables antipasto we drank a Paul Pernot Bienvenues Batard Montrachet. Probably one of the better White Burgundies I have had in the last few years. Evolved yellow color with an intense nose of honeysuckle, very pure fruit, long, full and powerful. I had been drinking my White Burgs early for fear of premature oxidation, I forgot how good they are with a little age. This one was fantastic! To my palate, the best Bienvenues I've had, even besting a 2002 Leflaive and a 2002 Carillon we drank last year (of course the Pernot had more age and was more evolved).

With steak smashed potatoes and a simple arugula salad, we started with a 1998 Pape Clement. More advanced than I thought it would be, shiny color but the nose is subdued, though I can get some hints of smoke. Cassis and berries, this is very good with a nice finish but it didn't float my boat as much as I expected.

We finished the Pape but still had steak on the plate, so I opened a 1998 Tertre Roteboeuf. This is something else altogether, dark and inky color, a nose of espresso, dark berries and a little menthol. On the palate it's just so hedonistic, rich, delicious but quite balanced. What a wine!

[AlexR]

Hi Jacques,

Thanks for your note.

I was given a bottle of 98 Tertre Roteboeuf by M. Mitjaville because I did a few free translations for him.

Please tell me: do you think it'll keep another 5 or 10 years?

All the best,
Alex

[jal]

Alex, it will keep and develop even more but it is just delicious now. I was actually surprised how good it was, I thought at best, it would be some sort of modern monolithic wine, but it's is quite complex and no, I didn't notice any heat.

[stefan]

Jacques, I loved properly aged Bienvenues Batard Montrachet (who doesn't), but the danger of premox has kept me away from them in recent years. I am glad you had good luck with the Pernot.

stefan