15 years on tasting.

Inky ruby red, faded rim.  Glossy, deft, glam nose: black fruit, tar, char, toasted olive bread, provencal caraway.  The oak has rounded off and integrated nicely in this ’98.  Lavish, summery-ripe and open-knit on the palate: cassis, black cherry liqueur, dark-skinned plum.  Linear tannins.  Minerality isn’t all that present.  What it lacks in complexity it makes up for in buttery fruit concentration.  Modern in style so these can feel a bit anodyne to us but overall this is quite successful.  Just not for the long haul: we would think about finishing the remainder of these in short order.