WTN: Beau and Arrow

[David M. Bueker]

• 1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (5/22/2025)
  From my late father’s cellar, this was bought back on first release, and cellared since then.
  
  I’ve had numerous opportunities to taste this vintage of Beaucastel, and there’s been a definite variability of brett influence. This bottle was on the more earthy/ farmyard side of things, but not to the point of dominating the wine. The fruit and herbal notes still held sway, and once the horses had left the barn, there was a cleaner dusty hillside note. Tannins almost completely invisible, so time to drink up before the remaining structure falls apart, though that will no doubt take a while.