2001 Syrah

Winemaker Bob Foley offered an interesting theory to explain what went wrong at the end of the 2000 harvest. The early bud break in 2000 broke the rhythm of late bud break/late ripening that characterized 1999 and 1998," he explained. So the vines were essentially operating on more of an 11-month rhythm. They got to the end of their growing cycle and wouldn't quite finish; there were still a lot of unripe seed tannins. There really wasn't physiological ripeness when most estates started harvesting in 2000; it was necessary to let the fruit hang." Letting the fruit hang has long been the key to the almost freakish ripeness and power shown by these classic "mountain" wines. Pride's 2000 cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and sangiovese had been bottled barely a week before my visit.