Domaine Sainte Anne Cotes du Rhone Villages, 1998

There is a heavy crust on one side of the bottle, and the smells and flavors have a few added dimensions. This wine has happily passed from adolescence to maturity. I smell and taste more black than red fruits at this stage--black raspberries, dark cherries and blue plums. Also leather, cassis and spices I can't name. In the mouth, the wine is as full bodied as ever but it has made several turns away from its youthful fruitiness. Oh, there is still plenty of fruit, but the secondary characteristics are beginning to emerge. No hurry to drink, in my opinion.