Twenty-Five Years On: The 1997 Vintage
Well, it is that time of year again. Time for the annual Twenty-Five Years On cellar clear-out.
In truth, I only open the door to my cellar two or three times each year. You might find that hard to believe, but I am being literal, not metaphorical or metaphysical. It is my contribution to ensuring the temperature within remains as stable as possible, something that seemed more important than ever this year, which saw record-breaking summer temperatures in the UK. So when I last crossed the threshold, back in January or maybe February, I made sure to pull out as many 1997s as I could lay my hands on. And here they are.
Of course, in my two regions of special interest, this is a vintage I have written on before, having previously published a number of 1997 Bordeaux and 1997 Loire Valley reports. The numbers of bottles in my cellar from these two vintages is ever-dwindling though (not that I bought into Bordeaux in this vintage, other than a handful of Sauternes), and so this small report deals with both, not to mention a handful of bottles from Germany and one or two other regions.
The Wines
The vast majority of wines here are white and carry some residual sugar. During the process of my cellar excavations I unearthed just three reds, the 1997 Château de Beaucastel, 1997 Chateau Musar and 1997 Château Ravanès Diogène, of which the former showed best. While the 1997 vintage in Châteauneuf du Pape was undeniably attractive, or at the very least “useful”, at the time I think I was rather more smitten with the 1998 vintage, but in my limited experience (a large part of which relates to the wines of Château de Beaucastel) time has not been so kind to those wines. The 1997, however, is drinking very well today and still has potential for the future. Likewise the 1997 Chateau Musar, which for my palate is only just getting into its stride.
