WTN: 1998 Grand Puy Lacoste

[Jenise]

I may have let these go too long, though I was certain I'd opened one on New Years Day 2010 and found it needed a lot more time. Maybe what I opened was a 2000, and then misremembered it since thinking it must be the 98, which I have so much more of.

We opened this last night to sip after dinner, suddenly realizing that we should be drinking "a good claret" while watching the festivities in London. Good but not great Bordeaux nose that gave me that uh-oh feeling, it smelled overly dry and lacked any fruit character. Similar on the palate with a few mild tannins and startlingly low acid. A mild pruniness emerged on every third sip or so of the second glass. I'll open another bottle soon to compare. But I think the best I can hope for is some bottle variation. Not good.

I'm a bit surprised. What makes you think this isn't bottle variation?

[Jenise]

I'm a bit surprised. What makes you think this isn't bottle variation?

The absence of two things that tend to raise my eyebrows when a Bordeaux disappoints. 1) Tight, clean cork and 2) provenance. These were a retail purchase straight from the distributor's warehouse. This could be one of those mysteriously flawed bottles that have no outward signs of cause--and of course I hope it is--but there's nothing about the bottle or its history that's suspect.