The medium to dark ruby-colored 1998 Chaleur Estate offers sultry spice, violet, and jammy cherry aromas. This velvety-textured, medium-bodied red reveals loads of muscle to its underlying, candied cherry, raspberry, and blueberry character. An elegant, well-detailed offering, it combines gorgeous layers of sweet, bright, fresh fruit with a delightfully harmonious personality as well as an extensive, pure finish. Enjoy it over the next ten years. Tel. (425) 489-0544

Though it has been on the market for some weeks, this wine is wrapped up tight as a drum. Firm fruit suggests black cherry, blackberry and cassis, and it shows underlying streaks of dark, mineral-saturated Red Mountain terroir. The weight and dimension of this wine, borne out in past vintages, is not immediately apparent in this latest release—give it time to breathe and it begins to open gradually, revealing layers of smoke, tar, spice and coffee underneath the tight fruit.——P.G.(6/1/2001)—— 91