Chateau Angelus 1998 and about those'98 St. Emilions

[Jackdaw Dawson]

Popped and decanted a bottle of Chateau Angelus 1998 that I brought to a recent Zachys Auction lunch. Interesting that the wine, which had been "pop and pour" ready only a few years ago, is now showing signs that it really needs a few more years in the cellar. Any remaining baby fat that was present in the bottles I tasted between 2006 and 2010 is no longer present. Instead, what you have now is the fantastic structure of a great Bordeaux that is complemented by well delineated earthy, dark plummy flavors, violets, and a good dose of mineral-laden soil. The "terroir" of Angelus is showing through, and in some ways reminds me of the old pre-Perse Chateau Pavie wines from the 80s and early 1990s. The '98 Angelus is fine to drink now with steak and baked Irish rocks slathered in butter, but really should be cellared for another couple of years, and I would not be surprised to see these bottles drinking well 10-15 years from now.

I think the 1998 Right Bank wines, as they lose their baby fat, are starting to plateau, and have the requisite constituent elements of fruit, acid, tannins, and alcohol in the "Right" equilibrium necessary for long-term ageing and favorable evolution into the tertiary stage. I think the question is where do you catch the wines in their life cycle? When they were young, they were utterly hedonistic (save for Ausone, which was tannic and eternal as always) and brought immediate pleasure based upon their sexy new wood, rich fruits, plush texture, round tannins, and a healthy but not over-the-top degree of alcohol. They were fun and delicious. They stayed quite primary for many years, slowly evolving and shedding their baby fat/glycerin over time. At this point, I'm finding a number of the 1998 Right Bankers to be less fruit driven and more "claret" like if you will, exhibiting structure and integration and balance in a more precise manner than in their youth. But fun wines all around. And if the ability to provide pleasure in their youth, in their middle age, and after long-term cellaring are the characteristics of a great wine and a great vintage, the 1998 Right Bankers have definitely shown a consistency meriting the praise originally heaped upon them shortly after the vintage.

Best,


John

[Houndsong]

My experience, with one or two exceptions, is even many basic GCs (which is all I've got/had) are vin de garde with a lot of power and not much hedonism and have evolved glacially. Not glacially in the global warming era sense, glacially in the ice age era sense.

[JimHow]

I have a couple half bottles of 1998 Angelus, I'll hold them for another 5-10 years based on your report.
Sounds like a vintage that was just plain great on the right bank, without the need for any excessive modernization.
I don't think I've ever been disappointed by a 1998 right banker.

[Houndsong]

Come to think of it that was a 98 Pavie at Jim's. I'd say that was ready and quite nice, noncontroversial.

[JCNorthway]

I'm glad to see the comments on 98 Angelus and St. Emilions in general. I convinced my brother-in-law to buy several bottles because his son was born that year. I was making the decisions at his request because he is not knowledgeable of Bordeaux wines, and I'm always a little apprehensive about doing that. But these reports are encouraging, especially because two of the wines were Angelus and Pavie.

[JimHow]

I can vouch for the Pavie, Jon. I honestly don't know what all the fuss is about. That '98 Pavie Hound and I had from half bottle at my house was a classy wine.

[Jackdaw Dawson]

Jim: I'm in total agreement re: 1998 Pavie; it's a great wine, shows its terroir, has lots of fruit, and is a bundle of fun to drink.

From 2000-2005, I find the oak to be a bit much for my tastes. I haven't had any 2000 Pavie or subsequent vintage of Pavie in quite a while, so maybe things have settled down a bit.

Werner: Hey there. Play date in the works!

Best,

John

[JonoB]

I think 98 right banks are superb, but those that are too modern still seem OTT.
To the point where they get outstripped by 94 Pomerols (real sleepers) and drinking wonderfully now...

The good 98s are starting to turn dark and brooding... Forget 2000, for me it is a 98, 01 Right Bank comparison... I think they will need a serious amount of time to show their utmost best, but I've never had a 98 right bank that was a disaster, lets put it that way.

In terms of Pavie... Post 2000 is a bit of a mess for me! I also don't agree that the wines were mediocre pre-Perse! However, although because of the style, it wasn't my favourite 2010 at this juncture, the 10 Pavie was surprisingly "balanced" if that is the correct word for it. Nice freshness... But somehow I think that may also be to do with the vintage characteristics as a whole.