2000

What we would buy, and why

This is the one year where the number on the label inflates the price on its own, so pay for the estate rather than the vintage: a well-stored Sociando-Mallet at €100 beats an anonymous millennium-branded claret at the same money. Stay on the Left Bank of Bordeaux or in declared Port and you cannot really go wrong; avoid 2000 Sauternes and 2000 German Riesling altogether. Budget €200-450 for a classed growth, and warn the recipient it still wants a couple of hours in a decanter.

2000 in the world

On 2 November 2000 the first resident crew moved into the International Space Station, and there has been someone living off the planet every day since. Sydney had staged the Olympics six weeks earlier.

Best bets for 2000

• Taylor's, Fonseca or Dow's Vintage Port 2000 - a properly declared year, roughly €100-160, and barely started
• Pichon Longueville Baron or Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2000, Pauillac, €220-450 - the classic Left Bank gift bottle
• Château Sociando-Mallet or Château Potensac 2000, €80-130 - same summer, same care, a third of the money
• Vieux Télégraphe or Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2000, €120-200, for someone who prefers Rhône warmth to Bordeaux structure

How we grade a bottle

Fill level, label, capsule and cork, then provenance. Every bottle is checked by hand by people who have handled thousands of old bottles, and we write down the flaws as well as the good news. What the fill levels mean · How to choose a birth-year wine