2000 – yet another Cinderella vintage in California

The American wine market seems to me even more plagued by generalisations – especially those pertaining to vintage assessments. The 1998s were regarded as pariahs because the California North Coast Cabernets had more difficulty ripening than usual. And now much the same seems to have happened to the reputation of the entire 2000 California harvest. It didn't help that overall it was a large crop and there was rain in late September, and certainly many of the Cabernets I have tasted have had more marked acidity than their counterparts made in the generally lauded 1999 and 2001.

But there are...