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Hail on 1 July took 40% of the crop from half of Figeac's 40ha vineyard. Harvest ran from 23 September to 13 October. I last tasted this vintage in a vertical at the estate a few years ago, and it's every bit as good today. It's getting to that perfect moment to drink, when you just sink into it. It has a rich and complex nose of blueberries and cassis, rippled through with leather, cigar box and exotic spices. The tannins are soft and almost nutty, but this is still a vibrant wine full of life, sumptuous with great concentration.Decanter | 98 DEC(Château Figeac (St. Émilion)) The 1998 Château Figeac is one of the greatest young vintages from this property in the last twenty-five years and the wine continues to show stunning potential. It is a far cry from ready to drink, but it is getting to that stage where it is awfully tempting to start opening bottles! The deep and stellar bouquet jumps from the glass in a sappy blend of black cherries, red plums, Cuban cigar wrapper, a great base of soil tones, chocolate, still a bit of Figeac’s youthful herb tones, toasty new oak and a topnote of St. Émilion nutskin. On the palate the wine is pure, full and sappy at the core, with excellent soil signature, ripe, seamless tannins and outstanding focus and grip on the very long, complex and perfectly balanced finish. A gorgeous bottle of Figeac that still deserves at least a few more years in the cellar to really hit its apogee. (Drink between 2021-2075)John Gilman | 95 JGPretty blackberry, with black olive on the nose. Full-bodied, with fine tannins and a delicate fruit, dark chocolate and coffee aftertaste.—'88/'98 Bordeaux blind retrospective (2008). Best after 2010.Wine Spectator | 91 WSAs befitting a wine with considerable Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in the blend, this is a stylish, mid-weight effort with an opulent, complex bouquet of licorice, Asian spices, tobacco, and fruit cake. Obvious black currants, smoke, vanillin, and new saddle leather are prominent in the wine's beautifully-knit flavors. This opulent, rich, concentrated, layered, pure, complex 1998 reveals low acidity as well as ripe tannin, suggesting it will be impossible to resist young. Anticipated maturity: now-2016.Robert Parker | 90 RPThe 1998 Figeac, now at 20 years old, was a vintage that was affected by the hailstorm during the summer. This bottle is more open than the magnum poured at the vertical in 2015, but the aromatic profile is the same with rustic red berry fruit, ferrous notes and just a touch of juniper berry. The palate is medium-bodied with solid tannin that have softened in recent years, grainy in texture with a linear, Cabernet-driven finish that denudes this Figeac the opulence of its peers. It is a fine Figeac although it would not be in the top drawer of vintages. Tasted at the château.Vinous Media | 90 VM

This is amazing for the vintage. Full and silky, with velvety tannins. Long and rich, with a bright fruit character -- think black figs. The Cabernet Sauvignon gets to 35% of the blend in this vintage. This is delicious now, but it will be much better in five years. Pull the cork in 2015.James Suckling | 94 JSThis has a roasted, grippy-edged feel, with plum skin and licorice root notes framing the core of blackberry, fig and black currant confiture flavors. A touch chewy, but a strong tobacco accent lends this a hint of freshness. Shows the teetering balancing act of the vintage.—Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Drink now through 2032. 8,333 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WSThe famously hot vintage, and a wine I have been lucky enough to try many times. It is still holding up, showing deeply spiced and exotic notes - more furniture polish and dried herbs than in many vintages, but strangely sexy because of it. The relatively low alcohol suggests impact of the Cabernets as well perhaps as some blocking because of the heat, but this is a great wine for drinking today, full of generosity and pleasure. Drinking Window 2017 - 2030Decanter | 92 DEC(Château Figeac (St. Émilion)) I have only tasted the 2003 vintage at Figeac on a single occasion, which was as part of a vertical back at the property on one of my last trips to the region to taste en primeur. While the note is a bit out of date now, I was quite favorably impressed with the wine and include the note here, as I have never written this wine up previously. The bouquet back in the spring of 2012 was really quite good, offering up a deep and fairly exotic blend of mint, sappy black cherries, dark plum, singed tobacco, chocolate and nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and quite plush on the attack, with very low acids, a very good, sappy core and a long, slightly chewy and quite smoky finish. There is a slightly dry edge to the tannins here that will probably always be part of the equation to some extent (as is the case with many 2003 Burgundies for instance), but this is a very good example of the vintage and one of the few 2003 clarets that I would be happy to drink any time. It was still a few years away from really drinking well back in March of 2012, but should be softened up nicely by now. (Drink between 2018-2040)John Gilman | 91 JG