TN: 98 Petit Village [Pomerol] , 98 Grand Corbin Despagne

[AKR]

98 Petit Village [Pomerol] Served cool. Cellared from release. Double decanted - unusually large amounts of sediment. Cloudy red, the beginnings of lightening at the edges. 13% abv on the label. Nose shows red fruit, cherries, bandaids, lavender. Great bouquet actually. Palate is medium bodied, silky texture, mature - tannins feel like they are almost totally resolved. Good 30 seconds of concentration. A wonderful example of a mature Pomerol. The SO is really peeved that I took a test sample before her, and has a couple Olive Garden sized pours to even things up. This is an estate has always felt disproportionately richly priced relative to its quality, but in peak vintages its great, and worth cellaring. The medium bodied fruit is sweet and balanced here. I give it an A-. We had it tonight with couscous and roast pork with preserved lemons, which was a goofy combo, which would have been better with a Northern Rhone instead, but the SO is not very open minded about those.

Last night we had another 98 too.

98 Grand Corbin Despagne [St Emilion] Served cool. Cellared from release. Popped and poured. Darker red in the core, but more lightening on the edges. Fully mature by the coloration. A very quaint 12.5% abv on the label, yet feels fuller bodied than the Pomerol. A tight nose but one can coax dark fruits and coffee out of it. It's just showing the cusp of tertiary flavors like forest underbrush now, so I think its moving past its peak. I must have more of these, so will make efforts to drink them sooner rather than later. These were ferociously tannic in their youth, so I'm surprised how mature, how soft the mouth feel is now. It was a very 'masculine' right bank in a 98 right bank blind panel tasting that must have been at age 5 or something, and everyone was surprised (it punched way above its weight class/price point) since it had great flavor depth, but huge tannin. It's added some flesh so enjoy now. I'll give it a B. It might have been better younger, even if firmer. This will be one to double check on an evening when we have time for all the proper wine fussiness; maybe I'm being too stingy. The SO loved it, fwiw.