I hesitated a bit to serve this (1998 Faiveley - Gevrey-Chambertin-Les Cazetiers - 1er Cru) to my brown bag group, but decided, what the hell. Decanted two and a half hours ahead.
Very tight and unforthcoming on the nose, notwithstanding the decant and some time in the glass. In the mouth, there is a powerful backbone of acid and tannin. Tight, tight, tight, but well balanced. Cheese did not help much. All the elements are moving the right direction to converge nicely … ten or 20 years out.
The consensus was that this was a Barolo or Barbaresco from the 90s, which was an intelligent guess based on the structure, though those typically are more aromatically interesting at this stage. This gave little on the nose.
Will this ever emerge from its shell? I’m not sure. My notes from 2008 were pretty similar: “Fairly backward, but very pleasing. Needed red meats. Slowly opened up in glass. Could be drunk now with roasted/grilled meat, or could wait. 90” At 16 years, I was hoping for a little more pleasure.
I won’t have to wait for that as this was my last bottle.
