The 2000 St.-Joseph Les Roches Vieilles Vignes offers blackberry and cassis flavors intertwined with liquid mineral notes. This supple, medium to full-bodied, elegant St.-Joseph possesses superb depth, purity, and balance. The tannin is sweet, the acid low, and there is abundant fruit and glycerin. Drink it during its first 10-12 years of life. The gregarious, talented Michel Tardieu was exceptionally enthusiastic about his 2000 southern Rhones, but decidedly less impressed with those from the north. His criticism mirrored those of other serious producers, namely that there were too many grapes, and that the high yields made it nearly impossible to achieve great richness unless there was draconian crop thinning, something many producers were not prepared to do given the fact it was a millennium vintage. While the 2000 Tardieu-Laurent offerings are excellent for the vintage, they are significantly less concentrated and textured compared to the awesome 1999s. Importers: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808 and Stacole Fine Wines, Boca Raton, FL; tel. (561) 998-0029