In recent years, I’ve been enjoying my 2000 CDPs as much or more than many of my 2001 CDPs
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It’s kind of weird - of those amazing four years 98, 99, 00, and 01 – I have found with the fullness of time that the 2000’s are the ones I least love. The 98’s have delivered as expected while the 99’s (drunk too young!) did better than I would have thought.
But at this point, even with my known storage, I have plenty of bottle variation. And most of these are running low now, and I would personally NOT reload on them. I find Rhones to be less consistent when backfilled. (plus I think there’s plenty of good current Rhones on the shelf now)
Could be I guess. Retailer will never say for sure…
2001 Pegau Cuvee Reservee: From the private cellar of a local prominent retailer, this is so fresh and lively, convinces me that my bottles of this wine (which I personally stored very carefully) were compromised by the retailer presumably. This is one is so fresh and lively, extravagant aromas of red maraschino cherry and strawberry infused with fragrant garrigue for 20 or so years. Such a perfect balance of sweet candied red fruit that lingers on the palate, extended and transformed by deft touch of acidity The red-fruited underbrush aromas present themselves with an almost Oriental spice character. Powerful, intense, but perfectly balanced between the initial attack and the long finish, this removes any doubt I had about the benefit of aging these…
I just uncorked my last bottle of the 2000 Pegau [CNDP] and this bottle - purchased at the same time + cellared the same as the one above - is also on the downswing. A bit of a bummer, but I wasn’t expecting it to be all that exciting. For casual Saturday afternoon quaffing while doing household chores, and random kitchen week ahead prep (salting a pork shoulder, slow cooking San Marzanos etc.) I might have been happier with a young Cotes du Rhone rather than this. There’s a lot of funk on this as it gets more air.
Generalizing, I have preferred 1999 over the 2000 CNDPs, a result I would not have expected when laying the fine quartet of 1998-2001 SoRho’s down. I’ve only really reloaded on 2007, 2010, 2015 and a tiny bit of 2016 since then.
Even though I stood the bottle up for a couple of weeks…the sediment is prodigious.
Look at the upper right side of the bottle…I’m sure it will be even more as I drink more and can see the rest of the bottle.
I have come to find I like CdP from 10-15 years from vintage and younger, not much older unless it’s Rayas. Testing this thesis with some Mordoree Reine des Bois, the 2001 is bulletproof, it just won’t budge.
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commercial post: I import Pegau to most of the U.S. The opinions below are mine and are worth every penny they cost you.
I like the 2000 vintage, but it is NOT a vintage to make old bones. The underrated 1999 will be longer lived, although not by much. 1998 and 2001 are long-distance runners. Good provenance and cellaring, blahblahblah, both easily have a decade of evolution left.
All of these vintages are thoroughly enjoyable, fully secondary today, but 2000 is the least of them. I have a few bottles left, will drink them over the next couple of years without regret. 2000 da Capo will still improve, but it’s not something I would want to hold for another 10 years. This was a fine and friendly vintage, but lacked the density of 1998 and 2001. 1999 was firmer. I preferred 2000 over the last decade, but today 1999 is better. If anybody still has any, 1994 is a glory today. It’s fully mature but not in a rush and now special occasion wine.
Dan Kravitz
I knew I had 4 bottles of the 2000 in my cellar, and finally when I moved I found them. I wasn’t expecting much cause I knew the vintage would not make old bones, unlike 2001 and 1998. The wine was not flawed in any way, just felt it was a little flabby. Sold the rest.
Wow, I thought I had finished these all up, but found one hiding. This 2000 Pegau [CNDP] is the way it should be - complex, rich, funky, long, resolved tannin/acid. There are Band Aid notes here, but expected and soothing, and then savory summer sausage flavors. The minions have decorated the house with lots of Fall/orange seasonal decorations, so I figured an orange labeled Pegau would pair well with that. (my scant stash of garish Behrens & Hitchcocks of another era are long gone, but those could have worked too, except that their synthetic corks didn’t make old bones)
Delightful example, and an A- in my scorecard, but suggest drinking now unless owners are presenting a vertical soon. This experience was even with slight impairment to my smell, since I’ve had some mild sniffles, and this is my first glass of wine in 4 days.
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Apparently the wine was as harmonious as the photo. Bravo! I’ve got one bottle left. One magical day before spring, it will return to the water table, via multiple palates.
Dan Kravitz
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