The brilliant, dark, plum/purple-colored 1998 Clement 1309 (a 50% Mourvedre/50% Grenache blend that was aged a whopping 30 months in French and American oak) offers a flamboyant nose of black fruits, flowers, earth, leather, and pepper. It is ripe and jammy, with superb concentration, great purity, and a finish that goes on for nearly 50 seconds. That's the good news. The bad news: there are only 66 cases.Note: Veritas was in the process of leaving importer: Dan Philips, The Grateful Palate, Oxnard, CA; tel. (888) 472-5283 at the time of printing.