Tar, berry and dry stone aromas, with wet earth. Full-bodied, thick and chewy, with velvety tannins. Big and rustic, but I like this textbook Latour à Pomerol. Best in decades. - James Suckling

Sourced directly from Moueix cellars. A deep garnet core, with just a little ageing on the rim. The nose is certainly different from the 2000 and 2005, lighter in style with ripe candied black fruits, a touch of honey, black plum and again, with a palpable Burgundian allure. The palate is medium-bodied, sweet red-berried fruits: wild strawberry, redcurrant, a touch of spice, fine tannins but without the depth and length of the 2000. Not a blockbuster in any sense of the world, perhaps some would consider it too light for the vintage, perhaps too feminine? Reminds me of Angelus. Very approachable and seductive, but more medium- than longer-term. Drink 2010-2020. Tasted December 2008.

Medium red-ruby. Superripe, almost surmuri aromas of cherry, raspberry, minerals and meat. Big, very rich and expansive; lovely firm-edged acids give the wine surprising vinosity and insinuating flavor. Impeccably balanced. The tannins are thoroughly buffered on the long finish. As superripe as this is, it still finishes with verve and grip.

A beautiful effort, the 1998 is one of the finest wines produced at this estate in the last thirty years. Revealing characteristics of vanillin, leather, highly-extracted black cherry fruit, and caramel, this deep, rich, full-bodied, powerful, layered, sweetly tannic 1998 is not as profound as I originally thought, but it is still an outstanding wine. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2020.