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Wine Advocate (100)
The 1998 Cheval Blanc, a blend of 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-brick in color and absolutely explodes with scents of exotic spices, incense, dried roses, cigar box and licorice, with a core of crème de cassis and dried cherries plus touches of black tea and dusty earth. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the mouth with rich, plushly textured fruit and then POW—it hits the mid-palate with an explosion of Chinese five spice and floral perfume sparks, leading to an epically long finish. This cannot fail to impress and can easily cellar for another 30 years or more.Inc. TAX€16,220.77 -
Jancis Robinson (18)
Lift and richness and electrified raisins! There's a lot of energy here. Medicine? Sinewy. Not the sweetest.Inc. TAX€2,218.38 -
Wine Advocate (99)
Still incredibly youthful and sporting a lot of fruit, the deep garnet-brick colored 1998 Haut-Brion sashays out of the glass with flamboyant red and black fruits, followed by a train of cassis, blueberry pie and chocolate box notions plus accents of iron ore, dried lavender and underbrush. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is wonderfully rich and decadently seductive in its generosity of fruit and velvety texture, offering seamless freshness and finishing with epic length and compelling minerality. Oh so delicious right now, with careful cellaring it should continue to excite through 2045 and beyond.Inc. TAX€8,966.77 -
Wine Spectator (100)
Fantastic. Dark ruby color with hints of purple. Glorious aromas of blackberry, tobacco, cedar and slightly wet earth. Full-bodied, with supersilky tannins and a fabulous finish. This is subtle and refined. Wonderful length. Tasted side by side with the 2000 Pétrus, it is clearly better. Today, I give it two points higher than previous tastings. Perfection.--Pétrus non-blind vertical. Best after 2012.Inc. TAX€4,934.77 -
Wine Spectator (95-100)
Massive yet balanced '98, with lots of mineral, mint, wet earth, berry and cherry character. Full-bodied, with loads of round, velvety tannins and a long, long aftertaste. Score range: 95-100Inc. TAX€7,316.77 -
Wine Spectator (95-100)
Massive yet balanced '98, with lots of mineral, mint, wet earth, berry and cherry character. Full-bodied, with loads of round, velvety tannins and a long, long aftertaste. Score range: 95-100Inc. TAX€658.93 -
Vinous - Neal Martin (96)
The 1998 Lafite-Rothschild is served from double magnum directly from the château reserves, in fact with the man who made it sitting opposite me – Charles Chevalier. I must admit to being quite amazed how well this shows at 20-years of age, trouncing all the other First Growths except Haut-Brion. Lucid in colour, it has a vivid bouquet of pure blackberry, blueberry, vanilla and graphite, perhaps just a little uncharacteristically showy in style, but beautifully defined and intense. The palate is perfectly balanced with layers of ripe black fruit, perfectly pitched acidity and a silky smooth texture that renders this utterly seductive. It is almost too good for me to recommend cellaring longer. Whatever...it is a sublime Lafite-Rothschild that on this showing, may well challenge the supremacy of the 1996. Tasted at the Académie du Vin dinner in Bordeaux.Inc. TAX€9,740.77 -
Vinous - Neal Martin (96)
The 1998 Lafite-Rothschild is served from double magnum directly from the château reserves, in fact with the man who made it sitting opposite me – Charles Chevalier. I must admit to being quite amazed how well this shows at 20-years of age, trouncing all the other First Growths except Haut-Brion. Lucid in colour, it has a vivid bouquet of pure blackberry, blueberry, vanilla and graphite, perhaps just a little uncharacteristically showy in style, but beautifully defined and intense. The palate is perfectly balanced with layers of ripe black fruit, perfectly pitched acidity and a silky smooth texture that renders this utterly seductive. It is almost too good for me to recommend cellaring longer. Whatever...it is a sublime Lafite-Rothschild that on this showing, may well challenge the supremacy of the 1996. Tasted at the Académie du Vin dinner in Bordeaux.Inc. TAX€986.53 -
Wine Spectator (94)
Tar, berry and dry stone aromas, with wet earth. Full-bodied, thick and chewy, with velvety tannins. Big and rustic, but I like this textbook Latour à Pomerol. Best in decades. Best after 2008. 3,000 cases made.Inc. TAX€7,802.77 -
Decanter (96)
This 1988 is still youthful with chewy tannins and a menthol send off. It's full of rich, concentrated spice, cloves and cinnamon touches and is holding up extremely well. It's a little more evolved than the 1986 but still shows just how regularly Las Cases rewards the faith that people have in it. 3% Petit Verdot completes the blend.Inc. TAX€3,368.77 -
Wine Advocate (97)
Composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, the 1998 Mouton Rothschild is deep garnet-brick in color with lovely crème de cassis, dried roses, hoisin and baking spice notes with underlying notions of dried cherries and mulberries plus touches of wood smoke, incense and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied and packed with rich fruit framed by firm, chewy tannins, it is stacked with complex, evolving flavors and finishes with incredibly long-lasting perfumed notes. According to winemaker Philippe Dhalluin, this needs about three hours of decanting at this stage. I simply love the place this wine is in right now, possessing plenty of mature, tertiary characters yet still sporting bags of fruit. It won’t be fading anytime soon either and should cellar nicely for 20-25+ more years.Inc. TAX€7,400.77 -
Wine Advocate (97)
Composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, the 1998 Mouton Rothschild is deep garnet-brick in color with lovely crème de cassis, dried roses, hoisin and baking spice notes with underlying notions of dried cherries and mulberries plus touches of wood smoke, incense and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied and packed with rich fruit framed by firm, chewy tannins, it is stacked with complex, evolving flavors and finishes with incredibly long-lasting perfumed notes. According to winemaker Philippe Dhalluin, this needs about three hours of decanting at this stage. I simply love the place this wine is in right now, possessing plenty of mature, tertiary characters yet still sporting bags of fruit. It won’t be fading anytime soon either and should cellar nicely for 20-25+ more years.Inc. TAX€4,714.38 -
Wine Advocate (97)
The 1998 Pavie is deep garnet-brick in color. So much fruit comes charging out of the gate here: profound crème de cassis, baked blackberries and blackberry preserves with notions of beef dripping, crushed rocks, unsmoked cigar, sandalwood and dried lavender. Big, rich and beautifully impactful, it is completely packed with taut, muscular black and blue fruit preserves, maintaining nice firm grainy tannins with layer after layer of exotic spices, meat and earth notions, finishing epically long and minerally. Should easily continue to cellar for 25+ years.Inc. TAX€4,262.77 -
Wine Advocate (100)
The greatest wine produced at this estate since the formidable duo of 1989 and 1990 is the 1998 Pétrus, a magical bottle that is a lot more complex and expressive today than was the case only a handful of years ago. Bursting with aromas of dark berries, pencil shavings, violets, licorice and black truffle, it's full-bodied, rich and seamless, with incredible depth at the core, beautifully refined tannins and a long, resonant finish. Even though this is probably the richest, most textural wine of the vintage, the 1998 isn't quite as broad and concentrated as the 1989, but if anything, it's even more precise and delineated.Inc. TAX€4,713.73 -
Wine Advocate (93)
Pale to medium gold in color, the 1998 Suduiraut gives delicate lemon pastilles and lime cordial notions with peach blossoms, honeycomb and ceps in the background. Both unctuous and refreshing in the mouth, some compelling white pepper and powdered ginger notions come through on the long finish.Inc. TAX€854.77
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Wine Advocate (100)
The 1998 Cheval Blanc, a blend of 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-brick in color and absolutely explodes with scents of exotic spices, incense, dried roses, cigar box and licorice, with a core of crème de cassis and dried cherries plus touches of black tea and dusty earth. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the mouth with rich, plushly textured fruit and then POW—it hits the mid-palate with an explosion of Chinese five spice and floral perfume sparks, leading to an epically long finish. This cannot fail to impress and can easily cellar for another 30 years or more.In Bond€13,480.00 -
Jancis Robinson (18)
Lift and richness and electrified raisins! There's a lot of energy here. Medicine? Sinewy. Not the sweetest.In Bond€1,830.00 -
Wine Advocate (99)
Still incredibly youthful and sporting a lot of fruit, the deep garnet-brick colored 1998 Haut-Brion sashays out of the glass with flamboyant red and black fruits, followed by a train of cassis, blueberry pie and chocolate box notions plus accents of iron ore, dried lavender and underbrush. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is wonderfully rich and decadently seductive in its generosity of fruit and velvety texture, offering seamless freshness and finishing with epic length and compelling minerality. Oh so delicious right now, with careful cellaring it should continue to excite through 2045 and beyond.In Bond€7,435.00 -
Wine Spectator (100)
Fantastic. Dark ruby color with hints of purple. Glorious aromas of blackberry, tobacco, cedar and slightly wet earth. Full-bodied, with supersilky tannins and a fabulous finish. This is subtle and refined. Wonderful length. Tasted side by side with the 2000 Pétrus, it is clearly better. Today, I give it two points higher than previous tastings. Perfection.--Pétrus non-blind vertical. Best after 2012.In Bond€4,075.00 -
Wine Spectator (95-100)
Massive yet balanced '98, with lots of mineral, mint, wet earth, berry and cherry character. Full-bodied, with loads of round, velvety tannins and a long, long aftertaste. Score range: 95-100In Bond€6,060.00 -
Wine Spectator (95-100)
Massive yet balanced '98, with lots of mineral, mint, wet earth, berry and cherry character. Full-bodied, with loads of round, velvety tannins and a long, long aftertaste. Score range: 95-100In Bond€546.00 -
Vinous - Neal Martin (96)
The 1998 Lafite-Rothschild is served from double magnum directly from the château reserves, in fact with the man who made it sitting opposite me – Charles Chevalier. I must admit to being quite amazed how well this shows at 20-years of age, trouncing all the other First Growths except Haut-Brion. Lucid in colour, it has a vivid bouquet of pure blackberry, blueberry, vanilla and graphite, perhaps just a little uncharacteristically showy in style, but beautifully defined and intense. The palate is perfectly balanced with layers of ripe black fruit, perfectly pitched acidity and a silky smooth texture that renders this utterly seductive. It is almost too good for me to recommend cellaring longer. Whatever...it is a sublime Lafite-Rothschild that on this showing, may well challenge the supremacy of the 1996. Tasted at the Académie du Vin dinner in Bordeaux.In Bond€8,080.00 -
Vinous - Neal Martin (96)
The 1998 Lafite-Rothschild is served from double magnum directly from the château reserves, in fact with the man who made it sitting opposite me – Charles Chevalier. I must admit to being quite amazed how well this shows at 20-years of age, trouncing all the other First Growths except Haut-Brion. Lucid in colour, it has a vivid bouquet of pure blackberry, blueberry, vanilla and graphite, perhaps just a little uncharacteristically showy in style, but beautifully defined and intense. The palate is perfectly balanced with layers of ripe black fruit, perfectly pitched acidity and a silky smooth texture that renders this utterly seductive. It is almost too good for me to recommend cellaring longer. Whatever...it is a sublime Lafite-Rothschild that on this showing, may well challenge the supremacy of the 1996. Tasted at the Académie du Vin dinner in Bordeaux.In Bond€819.00 -
Wine Spectator (94)
Tar, berry and dry stone aromas, with wet earth. Full-bodied, thick and chewy, with velvety tannins. Big and rustic, but I like this textbook Latour à Pomerol. Best in decades. Best after 2008. 3,000 cases made.In Bond€6,465.00 -
Decanter (96)
This 1988 is still youthful with chewy tannins and a menthol send off. It's full of rich, concentrated spice, cloves and cinnamon touches and is holding up extremely well. It's a little more evolved than the 1986 but still shows just how regularly Las Cases rewards the faith that people have in it. 3% Petit Verdot completes the blend.In Bond€2,770.00 -
Wine Advocate (97)
Composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, the 1998 Mouton Rothschild is deep garnet-brick in color with lovely crème de cassis, dried roses, hoisin and baking spice notes with underlying notions of dried cherries and mulberries plus touches of wood smoke, incense and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied and packed with rich fruit framed by firm, chewy tannins, it is stacked with complex, evolving flavors and finishes with incredibly long-lasting perfumed notes. According to winemaker Philippe Dhalluin, this needs about three hours of decanting at this stage. I simply love the place this wine is in right now, possessing plenty of mature, tertiary characters yet still sporting bags of fruit. It won’t be fading anytime soon either and should cellar nicely for 20-25+ more years.In Bond€6,130.00 -
Wine Advocate (97)
Composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, the 1998 Mouton Rothschild is deep garnet-brick in color with lovely crème de cassis, dried roses, hoisin and baking spice notes with underlying notions of dried cherries and mulberries plus touches of wood smoke, incense and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied and packed with rich fruit framed by firm, chewy tannins, it is stacked with complex, evolving flavors and finishes with incredibly long-lasting perfumed notes. According to winemaker Philippe Dhalluin, this needs about three hours of decanting at this stage. I simply love the place this wine is in right now, possessing plenty of mature, tertiary characters yet still sporting bags of fruit. It won’t be fading anytime soon either and should cellar nicely for 20-25+ more years.In Bond€3,910.00 -
Wine Advocate (97)
The 1998 Pavie is deep garnet-brick in color. So much fruit comes charging out of the gate here: profound crème de cassis, baked blackberries and blackberry preserves with notions of beef dripping, crushed rocks, unsmoked cigar, sandalwood and dried lavender. Big, rich and beautifully impactful, it is completely packed with taut, muscular black and blue fruit preserves, maintaining nice firm grainy tannins with layer after layer of exotic spices, meat and earth notions, finishing epically long and minerally. Should easily continue to cellar for 25+ years.In Bond€3,515.00 -
Wine Advocate (100)
The greatest wine produced at this estate since the formidable duo of 1989 and 1990 is the 1998 Pétrus, a magical bottle that is a lot more complex and expressive today than was the case only a handful of years ago. Bursting with aromas of dark berries, pencil shavings, violets, licorice and black truffle, it's full-bodied, rich and seamless, with incredible depth at the core, beautifully refined tannins and a long, resonant finish. Even though this is probably the richest, most textural wine of the vintage, the 1998 isn't quite as broad and concentrated as the 1989, but if anything, it's even more precise and delineated.In Bond€3,925.00 -
Wine Advocate (93)
Pale to medium gold in color, the 1998 Suduiraut gives delicate lemon pastilles and lime cordial notions with peach blossoms, honeycomb and ceps in the background. Both unctuous and refreshing in the mouth, some compelling white pepper and powdered ginger notions come through on the long finish.In Bond€675.00
Bordeaux's relatively diverse weather, particularly its rainfall, means that vintage variation can be quite broad between some years. However advances in wine making techniques, technology and investment has meant that many chateaux are still able to create very good wines in "lesser vintages". From the best vintages wines are made that are clambered for all over the world and mature excellently for many years.
This is a selection of some of our favourite vintages from Bordeaux over the last few decades, as well some more recent ones.
