TN: 98 d'Aiguilhe [Cotes de Castillon]

[AKR]

98 d'Aiguilhe [Cotes de Castillon] from a 375ml, popped and poured, cork looks great, purchased far after release so provenance unknown but a sound bottle fortunately. A middle of the road, 13% abv older right bank. Fully mature, better when younger, but it's been a decade since I've had one. Color is now garnet, a hint of lightening. Has a nose showing spice and blood, with a nicely textured palate. Very smooth - no tannin nor acidic edges here. Finish is ok but only 20 seconds, some beef and toffee flavors here too. Sounds odd but a nice wine. IIRC this is the last vintage made before the new consultants came on board, and took a more modern international approach to their work. No high expectations for this, just grabbed a half to take to a corkage friendly rotisserie as the SO didn't want any alcohol. It get's a B on my ledger, which is similar to my thoughts ten or fifteen years ago on this too. However this 98 is tipping over, and should be consumed.

[Roel]

Not bad at all after 17 years and from a '375. I love d'Aiguilhe!

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Believe you're correct on the timing. I had this about 12-14 years ago too and thought it OK but nothing remarkable. A great example of the regime change was the 2001, so dense, plush and furry like it had the furs of a dozen minks inside the bottle.

[AKR]

A dozen minks running loose sounds even worse that 90 lbs of wet muddy dog bounding about the house.

A weeks worth of rain has been no help.

I've not tasted recent vintages here.