Côtes du Rhône Villages Rasteau AOC Cuvée Confiance 1998 from Domaine La Soumade (A. Roméro)
I bought two or three bottles of this wine in 2000 on an experimental basis after tasting it alongside the then fashionable Gourt de Mautens. On that occasion I preferred the Gourt and found this powerful and packed with matter but ungracious, clumsy and short (there is a TN in the old archive). I picked it out last night to accompany venison stew. (I only found one bottle but have no memory or note of the others; I must have given them to my son or daughters.)
C: Still quite dense and no signs of browning.
N: Nicely developed sweet dark fruit with rose notes and an agreeable tang.
P: Velvety, quite complex, deep and integrated with aromas as on the nose and that dark slightly sweet fruit typical of Grenache togetner with some nervy structure and leather hints towards the finish which balanced the wine. Ageing has indeed civilized and lengthened this wine but it is still not super-long.
So this has turned into a very nice bottle and an excellent partner for the venison but without the full complexity and class of a really fine Châteauneuf du Pape but as good as many others. 16.5/20.