Hermitage La Chapelle – 2000 back to 1955

All but the first of these notes was taken at a tasting held at Reid Wines near Bristol in November 2005. The wines, many of them real rarities now, were not served blind and had been decanted an hour or two beforehand. The 2000 was tasted blind with mixed Shirazes and Syrahs in May 2005 and, as I remark in the note, I was too generous to it in this tasting because I assumed it was a much, much older wine.
 

Of the 33 vintages tasted at this tasting the younger ones were pretty disappointing. Some of the older...