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