Shared with my wife and daughter on our patio in Tucson Arizona while we watched the sun go down as we watched the mountains change color and the desert foliage bloom. 77 degrees outside, 15% humidity, beautiful evening. Slow-0x’d for only about 30 minutes. First impressions from the nose is brandied fruit. Served in Zalto cab glasses. The wine glides around like a mature barolo in the glass. Medium body, very slick. Starts off yielding creme de cassis and brandied cherries, sometimes rum, later moving to over-ripe blueberries and plums. Wine seemed to change with every sip. Showed medium rare steaks sizzling on an iron grill, with smoke. Then some anise, a little barbecue sauce, some gravel, and finally some brown sugar. We don’t drink too many older wines, as we usually enjoy them before around 8 years, but this 19 year old was wonderful.
wasn’t sure you liked it till the last sentence–glad to see it coming around.
I had the same reaction Alan. Chuck, glad you enjoyed it.
So do you think you drank it at the right time? I have an '01 in the cellar- just wondering how long I’ll have to wait for it.
We recently had a 14 vintage vertical in Chicago. I haven’t written up the notes yet, but ill post them in time.
my note on the 1998:
Very dark raspberry color
Lots of everything on the nose: Cedar, cassis, black pepper, camphor.
Sweet fruit entry. Very long and intense but coiled up ready to pounce (but not yet striking). Dense, tannic and very high on extract. A little hard to judge at this stage, but i’m confident in the pedigree. 95+.
I think it’s a decade, probably more, away from peak (which is somewhat par for the course for grange, although 1998 is considered a prodigious year).
Just amazing. Thanks for sharing