Twenty-Five Years On: The 1998 Vintage
It’s cellar clear-out time!
Once again I throw my Bordeaux and Loire Valley tasting hats to one side as I dive head-first into my cellar to pull out some older bottles, indeed any bottle due to celebrate its 25th birthday, regardless of its origins. This occasionally means Bordeaux (quickly scrabbles to grab hold of first hat), but also sometimes the Rhône Valley (I was once a keen buyer of Hermitage, Côte Rôtie and Châteauneuf du Pape), Germany (despite my Loire obsession I still have a small Scharzhofberg-sized pile of Rieslings in the cellar – it is a good thing they age well) and other old favourites, from the Bekaa Valley to Bandol’s best.
This year my 25-year journey back in time takes me to the year 1998, and despite my track record of buying and hoarding more wine than I should this vintage now seems to have a rather modest representation in my cellar. And while I can do without my Loire tasting hat (indeed, I am not sure when I last tasted or drank a 1998 from this region – it was quite possibly the 1998 Bonnezeaux from Château de Fesles which I dispatched five years ago) I have already donned my Bordeaux hat once again, as close to half the wines here hail from this region.
Alongside them, my cellar excavations produced two wines from a pair of renowned names in Rioja, a solitary Hermitage, some old soldiers from Châteauneuf du Pape and a lone Riesling. For once, not from Germany.
The Wines
While I am tempted to turn first to the familiar and comfortable bosom of Bordeaux, I was so struck by the two Gran Reserva wines from Rioja that I can not start anywhere else. This was my third or maybe fourth bottle of the 1998 Castillo Ygay Gran Reserva Especial from Marqués de Murrieta and there is no word more suited to describe it than stunning. What struck me most was the structure and texture on the palate; the aromatics are evolved and enticing, but the palate just feels so velvety, substantial and youthful; you can drink this now, and yet I am sure this wine has many more decades ahead of it. It was a remarkable performance, and I was disappointed to see, when I investigated, that I don’t have another two-dozen bottles and magnums stacked up at the back of the cellar. A nod of respect must also be made in the direction of the 1998 Imperial Gran Reserva from CVNE, which also equipped itself very well, even with its high-toned furniture polish notes.
