1998 Chambertin

The medium-to-dark ruby-colored 1998 Chambertin is one of Mme. Leroy's 1998s that left me in a quandary: Will this wine blossom or dry out? It exhibits a nose of dark fruits and fresh herbs that gives way to a broad, medium-to-full-bodied character. This wine has massive layers of tarry black fruit, yet also possesses the woody, scraping tannins that may spell future doom for many wines from this vintage. Either drink it in the very near term with a dish containing lots of tannin-hiding fat, or wait 10+ years and pray.

Full medium ruby. Pungent, perfumed nose currently dominated by black raspberry and earth. Thick, smooth and huge in the mouth, but very closed today and dominated by its acidity. Best on the finish today: unfurls like a peacock tail and goes on and on.