1998 Tua Rita Redigaffi

As a whole, this retrospective performed very well, and there were only two vintages that disappointed. The 1998 Redigaffi is one of those two. The bouquet is far too evolved with dried mushroom, dusty attic, smoky tar and scorched earth. Despite abundant spring rain, 1998 is remembered as a very hot year, and extreme measures were taken. For example, the vines had to be watered painstakingly by hand. At Tua Rita, it also marks the year that Consulting Enologist Luca D'Attoma left and was replaced by Stefano Chioccioli (Luca would come back in 2010 and to complete his first full winemaking cycle in 2012). This edition has no life left and leaves behind dusty sensations. In his original review, Robert Parker notes the high dry extract of this vintage, but all of that fruit weight falls flat today.