1998 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame

By Jono • August 4, 2008

Life’s tough….. We arrived home from a very successful weekend pursuing my other passion of equestrian sport (See AlliedEquine.com), and the winning owner of one of the competition horses I ride wanted to celebrate. What better way than with a bottle of 1998 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame. I have tried numerous vintages over the years, and even though it’s always a great wine, I’ve never really been absolutely inspired, until last night. It could have very well been the adrenaline and winning mood after the day, but boy was it good.

Alcohol: 12.5%

Blokes Notes: Initially I was struck by the generousity of the palate. One could be forgiven for thinking there is a wack of residual sugar in this wine. Never fear though, it’s big and rich, with nice almond and apple skin flavours, held together by nice acidity that seems to persist and persist, and finishes astonishingly dry. Still extremely fresh and crisp.

Like I said, it could have been the occasion or the company, but this was a wine experience I want to have more of.

At around $180 per bottle, it may be sparingly though.

You can purchase Veuve Clicquot online at Majestics in the UK or Intervino in Australia.

Categories: Blog, Blokes Notes, Wine Reveiws
Tags: Features

About the Author

Jono

Jono has been involved in the wine industry since he was quite young. His parents had a small vineyard and winery in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia, and spent plenty of school holidays working in the vineyard and winery. He completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Oenology) from the University of Adelaide (formely the Roseworthy Agricultural College). He also holds a Post Graduate Degree in Business Management from Monash University. His wine industry experience include working as a winemaker for Petaluma in the Adelaide Hills under the legendary Brian Croser. He was then sent to Smithbrook in the Pemberton region of Western Australia, then owned by Petaluma. He spent 6 years at Smithbrook managing the vineyard and winery, and during that time also completed a vintage at Chateau Carsin in Bordeaux. The two years leading into 2008, he traveled the world with his partner sampling the worlds best wines, and also fulfilling his other passion of equestrian competition.