1997/1998 wines for the long haul

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I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Trotanoy, Palmer, Cheval Blanc and Haut Brion are still all excellent at the 50-year mark. As others have said, there’s probably a lot of Bordeaux 1998s that you can put in the mix, probably at quite a range of price points. Another suggestion for 1997, probably a whole lot cheaper and more for the “30” year mark would be Hermitage La Chapelle. I’ve been very happily surprised with a couple of bottles that were actually really good and tasty :)!

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1998 Pomerols for long aging: Trotonay, Vieux Chateau Certan, Evangile & La Conseillante. You really cannot go wrong with any of these wines.

1998 Ch. Magdelaine - if you can find it will go the distance.

1998 La Mission Haut Brion is excellent if you can find it within your price range

1998 Penfolds Grange. Will go for another 40 years easily and WS says you can get in USA for $400. If you like the style that is. Also consider Penfolds St Henri or Penfolds Bin 389 for long lasting wines at a lower price point

1998 Jadot Clos de Beze should be in your price range and is very good for another 10-20 years

1997 and 1998 Rieussec will last a long time as well if you like Sauternes

have fun looking around

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1997 Huets should be good for the long haul

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Yup.

1998 Pomerol in particular.

VCC
Trotanoy
L’Evangile
Gazin

And in St Em:

Figeac
Magdelaine

I have many of the 1997s mentioned so far (anniversary) and struggle with when to consume - at peak (over the next several years) or if we’re lucky enough to be around for our 50th, interesting but not great, though still sentimental. Latour is on deck this year, which will be my first Bordeaux consumed from the vintage.

Another one not mentioned that we’ve been really pleased with is Chave, but again I don’t think it’s one for the ages.

I appreciate everyone’s comments and experience. Makes me want to keep an eye open for some Piedmont wines, and to pick up some more d’Yquem :slight_smile:.

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1997 was an excellent generally declared year for vintage Port. And the nice thing about this particular vintage is that it has never shut down. Will easily go 50 years plus.

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Yes! Was just gonna say, 97 Chave is an overlooked wine, but as you note, perhaps not a long distance runner. No idea what it trades for these days but it was a relative bargain compared to 1999, 2001 et al.

The great thing about birth year wines is you have good reason to open them every year, regardless of if it’s a milestone like hitting 50.

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+1 on the Huet

We just opened the 1990 Huet Le Mont Moelleux Premier Trie a few weeks ago and was spectacular. It will last another 20+ years!

1998 Cheval Blanc will go the distance

Yes but will be well over 500

1998 Donnhoff Eiswein is incredible

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Corison Kronos in both years will likely last another 15+; may not be your type.

It’s great to have birth year wines. At a certain age just being alive and still enjoying wine, regardless of the vintage, is a gift as well.

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Gaja reds from 97 should be into the early part of peak maturity, but also be good for decades to come. But the big name ones are pushing up close to $500. The 98s would be more my style and more like $300s, but those might be more like next 10 years than super long aging.

I think Bruno Giacosa and Mascarello would be great from both vintages.

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I agree with all the 1998 Bdx right bank recommendations. Left bank is not as great but we had an excellent PLL just last month.

Peasants!

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It’s classic WB…

“What’s a good wine less than $500?”

Roumier Musigny

:joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy:

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I too think they made really excellent wines but even at the top level they are more to my taste now than they will be later.

Right Bank Bordeaux and the Graves are well worth buying.

From the Graves both La Mission and Haut Brion. I marginally prefer the la Mission, which is a good thing as it’s a fraction of the price.

1998 was also the last good vintage of Pape Clement before they screwed it up. Highly recommended.

All the usual suspects from Saint Emilion, but I give the nod to Château Figeac. It was also the last good vintage of Château.Pavie. And of course Magdelaine and Cheval Blanc.

With Pomerol, you can’t go wrong. I love the Lafleur and Trotanoy. Both utterly brilliant. VCC is less expensive and tiniest notch lower. L’Evangile is also very good, La Conseillante a slight step down.

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I love all of your recommendations and we shared some of the same, and I’ve had quite a few of those over the last few years and absolutely adore them. Some of them wanted it back and bought more. I cannot say that I was that thrilled with the La Conseillante. Of course, with 25 years on it, it’s as much about provenance and storage.