2000 Syrah

Following the recent purchase of 17 adjacent acres, the Prides now have 72 acres planted on their estate atop Spring Mountain straddling the Napa/Sonoma line. Winemaker Bob Foley, who harvests late for maximum ripeness, describes the 2000 crop size as "light, similar to that of 1999." Compared to the fleshy, flashy 1997s, which Foley says are not for long aging, the '99s will age well. "In 2000, people knew how high the sugar levels were, and they were aware of how many days it had been since the flowering," noted Foley. "So when they started to see some shriveling of the grapes they picked, but in many cases it was simply too early to get thoroughly ripe skins and flavors." On my annual visit to this estate, I focused on the '99s, as the 2000s had not yet been blended, and it seemed premature to try to speculate about the final bottlings. But I had an extraordinary tasting of the estate's numerous lots of 2000 cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot, including some mightily impressive samples from very young vines. The estate has doubled its cabernet sauvignon acreage with new plantings, which will allow production to rise from the 13,000 or so cases produced in 1999 and 2000 to 20,000 within three or four years.