WTN: 1998 Dom Tempier, Cuvée spéciale La Tourtine, Bandol

I needed a bottle for tonight's steak and went down to the cellar to search for something appropriate. My eyes happened to fall on a bottle of this wine and I thought it might be about time to drink it now.

The colour is still rather deep and mainly red.
The nose is initially a bit closed but slowly opening up nicely with pronounced animally, meaty aromas. The alcohol is stinging the nose a bit (14 ABV). Also some notes of pine and resin plus a slightly fishy, seashore-like smell.
The initial taste is rather hard and unyielding, but slowly it opens up nicely with a warm, broad, dusty character. Medium acidity and rather pronounced, dryish but nicely chewable tannins. The aftertaste is hot and peppery, a bit marked by alcohol and a little dry and bitter, but with a good length and complexity. I guess I could have waited another year or two to open this bottle, but I think it might become dryer and with the alcohol coming further, so it might be rather at its peak about now. In all a fine wine with lots of character, though a bit on the austere side. A nice companion to the steak. It is about as far away from many of the modern oak-laden fruit bombs as one could imagine.
Cheers, Anders

Thanks for this note - any views in the 93 of this cuvee? A bit more chancy than this vintage?

Have you had all of the cuvee's from Tempier and if so how do you rate La Tourtine? I'm curious because I've just started buying and storing Tempier (2004's on the shelf where I live) and this is one Cuvee I haven't bought even one bottle of because I believe I've read on the net that it's not as popular. And I wont be able to form my own opinion on the different cuvees for some years to come because I don't want to open any except for the basic domaine bottling.

Bryan