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.

The exceptional 1997 Mourvedre/Grenache Clement 1309 is a blend of 60% Mourvedre and 40% Grenache from vines averaging 100 years of age. Production is extremely tiny, but readers should approach this wine as they would the ferociously tannic, highly-extracted 1990 Pradeaux Mourvedre Old Vines from Bandol or a backward, concentrated vintage of Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. This wine is super-intense, with huge body, mouth-searing levels of tannin, and extraordinary concentration and potential complexity. While it is not close to prime time drinking, who can ignore the blackberry, raspberry, melted road tar, licorice, and truffle notes that emerge from the wine's aromatics. Extremely full-bodied and backward, this offering requires 4-5 years of cellaring, and will easily last for two decades. Importer: Dan Philips, The Grateful Palate, Oxnard, CA; tel. (888) 472-5283