Stephen Tanzer writes in Vinous: "Strong early demand for the '98 Quinault L'Enclos sent the price soaring on the secondary market, giving owner Dr. Alain Raynaud a tough decision to make for the '99, which will be a better wine. Raynaud means for the wine to be drunk, not traded, and thus, at least as of the beginning of April, hoped to hold the line on '99 pricing. This site near the Dordogne in Libourne is considerably warmer than most estates in and around the village of St. Emilion (the Quinault vines largely survived the killer frost of 1956). Its soil is also largely gravel and ferruginous sand, very much like that of the Pomerol plateau, and thus Quinault seems closer to Pomerol in style." (05/2000)