Champagne Vintage - 1998 or 1999?

WINE TALK
1

I’m curious what bubble-heads think:

  1. Which vintage drinks better now?

  2. Which vintage will drink better at their peak, regardless of when that might be?

  3. Which vintage has a better chance to age and improve with age?

I personally find “most” 1998s very foursquare and boring, when compared even with comparable 1999s.

Excepting the following 1998s, I prefer the 1999 (or even the 1997):

Pol Roger SWC
Pol Roger BdB
Vilmart Cuvee Creation
PJ Belle Epoque (the 98 drinks great, dont generally like the wine period though and the 99 is terrible IMO)

So for me:

  1. 1999
  2. 1999
  3. For the couple 1998s I’ve had that are great, I think they’ll age fine, but I’m not sure how much more they’ll improve. The 1999s seems to have more in reserve, holding something for down the line.

You?

A friend told me a recent burghound issue declared 1998s under-rated and I generally disagree - hence just checking in to see what people are thinking…

2

Peter, can’t comment on this since I don’t know if I had any 1998 Champs (did not see many/any here in San Diego). I liked very much the 99’s that I’ve had with the nod for the best of the vintage going to Cristal which I’ve had several times.

3

Drinking now:
1997
1999

Drinking later:
1998