1998 Montpeyroux Grenat Vdp du Mont Baudile

Aime Commeyras continues to craft some of the most consistently rich wines of the Languedoc, even as production has risen from just six barrels of each "cru" in 1992 to nearly a thousand cases of each today. The estate now owns 25 hectares of vines, a few of which are in the process of being replanted. "We pick here for sugar/acid balance," said Commeyras, "and we don't really have that much variation in sugars and acids from year to year." I find this producer's post-'95 wines a bit less wild-perhaps a bit cleaner-than the bottles made during the early years (1991 was the first commercial release of the estate's Cote Doree and Cote Rousse bottlings). But it must be said that the early vintages, some of which seemed almost too sauvage upon their release, have proven to be reasonably stable and have aged well. Commeyras, increasingly aided by daughter Christine, told me that yields were about the same in '99 and '98, and that his vines did not suffer from rot in September of '99. "We get air currents from the mountains. Even six or seven kilometers to the west it's a different microclimate because there's not as much air movement." x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D Commeyras begins with a large batch of his strongest syrah. In the late spring after the harvest, he splits the juice into two cuvees: one (Cote Doree) goes into Burgundy and the other (Cote Rousse) into Bordeaux barrels until the following Christmas, at which point they are moved into tank and then quickly bottled. The wine labelled as Tradition then spends six months in the once-used barrels before being bottled in late June. (A Peter Vezan selection, importers include Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; North Berkeley Wines, Berkeley, CA; Vintner Select, Cincinnati, OH; and Barrique Wine/Vin Divino, Chicago, IL)