th_duck wrote: : ...and actually tasted a bottle from this vintage yet? I've picked up : about a half dozen bottles from various producers that interest me; : Rene Rostaing, Guigal Ch.D'Ampuis, Gaillard etc. but seeing as they : are so hard to come by I am sitting on them for now as I suspect I : probably should...
I believe in letting these age awhile yet, for my tastes, they are still much too young. That being said, I am *sure* you can drink them now, but I find syrah needs a good 8 years to turn into the surly little sauvage animal that is behind its elegant breeding.
: Anyone have any deep insights into this vintage and when I should take : the plunge and crack the capsule on one? Also, is the 2000 vintage as : mediocre as some would suggest as these are pretty common and I've : picked up some of these as well...
Keep in mind that 2000 made lighter wines, so they will age faster than the riper 1999's. A Gallet drunk recently confirmed this, but 2-3 years on that bottle would have rounded things out more. This is assumming they had some concentration there to begin with; some producers really made washed-out wines that year.
Mark S