1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin
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Tasting notes
A candidate for the Chateauneuf du Pape Hall of Fame, this wine is off the charts! Rich, long, concentrated, powerful, and refined, with a vibrancy and energy to the wealth of fruit that provides the perfect backdrop for this gem. There is an incredible mouthfeel that coats your palate with layers of spicy fruit, leaving with suggestions of cherries, peppery spices, walnuts, black tea, green olives, and kirsch that hold on for at least 60 seconds! This is just entering its prime-time drinking window. Drink from 2022-2045.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
More reviews and scores
I've been lucky enough to have the 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin numerous times recently and it has never failed to deliver everything I could want from a wine. Getting the best parcel of Grenache from the estate and a dramatically shifted blend of 60% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre and the rest Syrah and Counoise, it's a massive and concentrated Chateauneuf that surprisingly still seems to show its Mourvedre component front and center. Blackberries, kirsch, truffle, gamy meats, licorice and earth all give way to a full-bodied, seamless, impeccably balanced wine that carries its huge core of fruit with remarkable freshness and grace. While it will no doubt continue to evolve gracefully, it's brilliant today.
A blend of 60% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache, and the rest Syrah and permitted varieties, the 1998 Châteauneuf Du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin is more in the style of the 1989 and is a rich, concentrated, powerhouse of a Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It has a blockbuster-styled nose of ripe black fruits, melted licorice, truffles, graphite, and peppered meat, and it brings tons of richness and depth on the palate. Full-bodied, with a powerful, deep, layered mid-palate, resolute tannins, and a great finish, it's clearly in its prime drinking window yet should keep for another 15-20 years in cold cellars. Drink 2026-2046.
Dark crimson. Bit gamey and old on the nose but not without charm. Integrity, Good wine – smooth and together. Slightly dry tannins. Hot finish. Dry end but at least this is awake and trying! (JR)
About the producer
This Châteauneuf-du-Pape estate is one of the Rhône’s most famous addresses. With a history stretching back to the 16th century, Beaucastel remains family owned and run, with the fifth generation of the Perrin family – Marc, Pierre, Thomas, Cécile, Charles, Matthieu and César – at the helm today.