Wine 1998
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French wine appellations 1998
As you explore the selection of 1998 wines, you will quickly discover how the classic French wine regions emerge with fascinating differences and an incredibly clear, place-specific expression.
Burgundy and its delicate expression
This vintage placed great demands on the skill of the winegrowers in Burgundy, but the effort resulted in excellent red wines with a long life ahead of them, especially from the Côte de Nuits. Imagine enjoying a glass from appellations such as Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée or Chambolle-Musigny, all of which delivered deeply colored wines with pronounced tannins and a lively acidity, which has ensured them a formidable aging potential. They offer a traditional and firm structure that is just now beginning to unfold gently and harmoniously in the glass.
Although the white Burgundy wines produced limited yields, the quality from certain areas was extremely convincing. This is especially true of Chassagne-Montrachet, Corton-Charlemagne and Chablis, which managed to create rich and powerful white wines. These bottles today offer a pronounced minerality accompanied by a very straight and crisp acidity.
Bordeaux and the structured wines
Traveling to Bordeaux, the vintage is at its strongest on the right bank, where areas like Pomerol and Saint-Émilion benefited from an extremely hot August. This created concentrated, lush and silky wines based on Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Today, these bottles offer a wonderful balance with beautifully integrated tannins and complex, ripe notes of tobacco, cedar and earth.
On the left bank, where the wines are dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, you will experience a more classic and firm structure, as the harvest here faced challenges with rainfall. Despite this, the most skilled winemakers managed to produce muscular and complex wines. With their slightly lower alcohol content and great aging ability, these wines are currently at their absolute peak, ready to make any dinner memorable.
The Loire and the elegant nuances of the region
In the Loire Valley this year, wines were created that were largely driven by their terroir, in a cooler and very classic style from a time before climate change seriously altered the conditions for ripening. In Sancerre, the Sauvignon Blanc grape resulted in crisp white wines that are distinguished by high acidity, fresh citrus notes and the district's well-known, smoky flint character.
Moving further inland to appellations like Chinon, you will find light to medium-bodied red wines made from Cabernet Franc. These wines are characterised by a lively red fruit profile, offering lovely notes of cherry and raspberry. The fruit is most elegantly accompanied by underlying earthy and herbal notes, and a remarkable freshness in the palate.
Why a 1998 wine is a personal gift
Giving a 1998 wine as a gift is about much more than just the contents of the glass; it is a deeply thoughtful and present gesture. Such a bottle brings genuine joy to the recipient because it beautifully represents the passage of time and contains its own, exciting story. For some, an even older bottle, such as a 1988 wine, may have a special appeal.
- A vintage wine acts as an evocative time capsule that revives memories from a special year, whether it marks a wedding, a birth or an important anniversary.
- The long maturation process over more than two decades has given the wine a softness and complexity that younger vintages have not yet achieved.
- Each bottle carries its own unique background story, making it an obvious and present topic of conversation at the dinner table.
- Over the years, the optimal storage conditions have ensured that the recipient can look forward to a tasty and deeply captivating wine experience.
- It is a gift idea that differs significantly from more traditional choices, and which clearly shows a high degree of thoughtfulness from you as the giver.
How to prepare and serve a ripe vintage wine
When you are going to enjoy an older wine, it requires more careful handling than the younger bottles, so that you get the absolute best tasting experience. By following a few but crucial steps, you protect the wine's delicate aromas and optimally preserve its fine, complex structure. The same advice also applies to younger vintages; see for example our selection of wine from 2008 .
- Preparation and resting time: Stand the bottle upright and let it rest for 24 to 48 hours before serving. This ensures that the natural phenolic compounds and sediment that have formed over decades can sink to the bottom, leaving the wine completely clear in the glass.
- Opening the bottle: Older corks can be incredibly fragile. It is recommended to use a two-pronged corkscrew, often called a "Butler's Friend", so you can gently lift the cork without damaging it or pushing debris into the wine.
- Decanting and sediment: Pour the wine very slowly into a narrow carafe, preferably with a light source behind the neck of the bottle. This way you can stop pouring immediately when the sediment approaches the opening. Older wines should usually only be decanted for 30 minutes or less before serving, to avoid the delicate aromas from oxidizing.
- Temperature and serving: To prevent the alcohol from overpowering the fine flavor notes, mature French red wines are best enjoyed at a cool cellar temperature of 15.5 to 18 degrees. Mature white wines, on the other hand, should be served slightly warmer than young white wines, typically between 11 and 13 degrees.
- Choosing a wine glass: Choose thin crystal glasses for the purest contact with the wine. A ripe Burgundy is best enjoyed in a wide, tulip-shaped glass that captures the delicate aromas, while a tannin-rich Bordeaux presents itself best in a tall glass where the wine is allowed to slowly open up.
