Full deep ruby-red. Liqueur-like aroma of plum, raspberry, black cherry and game; faintly porty but vibrant. Thick and supersweet, with deep meat and leather notes lifted by a violety nuance. As lush and seamless as this is, there also excellent definition of flavor. Finishes with firm, ripe tannins and excellent persistence. Vacheron says the tannins are tougher today than they were two months ago, but they seem fine enough to me. This went through its malolactic fermentation and subsequent aging in a new foudre

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One of the youngest wines of the vintage, this wine is starting to shed its cloak of tannin but still seems at least 4-5 years away from full maturity. Among the darkest colored wines remaining at age 12, the 1998 Clos du Caillou Reserve has a deep ruby/purple color to the rim, a sweet creme de cassis and floral nose, with some blackberries, tar, graphite, and incense in the background. Pure, full-bodied, rich, but with some tannin still to shed, this is a very promising, extremely pure, full-bodied Chateauneuf du Pape that should turn into one of the longest-lived wines of the vintage. It has at least 15-20 years of potential left to it.

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Sensational. Thick, inky-black, ripe yet fresh, with supervelvety tannins that integrate the black fruit and the mineral, leather and bitter chocolate character. Despite its power, it's seamless on the finish.

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