1998 Bichon Cassignols Grande Reserve Graves

[Claudius]

Okay,
Most have never heard of this. It is imported by a local wine writer (Lester Jesberg of Winewise).
It is not a well known property but the estate has been making increasingly good wines for the last decade.
1998 was also a good vintage in Graves/Pessac Leognan, and the rep of the vintage means the vines are not overly expensive.
This wine cost me about $A20.

The colour is mahognay red, not brown at all, but that typical Graves colour which never seems to have the blue-red character of the central Medoc.
Nice smoky, earthy, stony nose, with dark fruit characters and tobacco leaf.
Palate is medium bodied and well balanced. It is not overly tannic, with a crust forming.
Dark fruits, wood smoke, tobacco and typical graves iron/earth and tar characters on the palate, finishing dry and long.

It remined me of Dom Chevalier from an average to good vintage.

I drank half one night and the rest the following night, and it tasted better the second night meaning it should still age well.

A very nice wine without great complexity and a good example of Graves.