Yesterday I invited my daughter in law, my daughter and her husband in a restaurant that I like, restaurant of Patrick Pignol.

We began with a Champagne Drappier Grande Sendrée 1996. Very strange, very unusual, it had a certain dryness at the end of taste, but was sufficiently complex to be pleasant.

Then, we had Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1991. The nose is glorious, extremely expressive. In mouth, it is a pure pleasure, and possesses a maturity of the best possible level. Every drop of this wine gives a complete and sensual sensation.

As we had finished the wine before the end of the main course, I ordered a Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1998. Nicolas, the sommelier, had warned me that I would find a great difference and would have preferred that I continue with a new 1991.

I remember having drunk this 1998 soon after it was released. And I had liked its spontaneous natural taste. But tonight, just after the 1991, the 1998 appeared as brutal, too simple, with a taste of too much in many aspects of its body.

The bottle is not in question, but the wine.

I can imagine that it is my taste which creates this impression. But my guests, of a younger generation, had the same opinion as mine.

I would be happy to know who has an opinion like mine, or who differs ?