CDP Beaucastel Hommage à Jacques Perrin, Perrin - Château de Beaucastel 1998

The splendid 1998 Hommage a Jacques Perrin is a compelling wine. Dense plum/ruby/purple, with intense notes of kirsch liqueur intermixed with licorice, camphor, incense, and black fruits, this wine cuts a broad swath across the palate, is very opulent, with a multi-layered texture, and despite its power, massiveness, and structure, comes across as pure, well-balanced, and classic in its proportions. This wine still needs another 5 or so years of cellaring, but it is one of the few Jacques Perrin wines that can be drunk at age 12 with enormous pleasure. It still has another 25-30 years ahead of it.

Atypically forward for a wine from Beaucastel, my recollection is that the actual percentage of Grenache, which never exceeds the Mourvedre in their final blend, was much higher in 1998 than in other years.

The limited-production, super-expensive 1998 Hommage à Jacques Perrin was fabulous. As I indicated in my original review, despite what the back label indicates, there is a lot more Grenache (approximately 60%) in the cuvée than normal. There is a dense, unctuous-looking black/ruby color, extremely full body, and spectacular aromatics offering up kirsch liqueur, spring flowers, black raspberries, blackberries, licorice, and meaty notes. Voluptuously-textured, with a fabulous, multi-layered mid-palate, high glycerin and admirable delineation, this hauntingly perfect wine should evolve effortlessly for 30+ years. Production was 500 cases.