One of the more disappointing bottles I have had of this wine (I have drunk close to three cases as it is the red wine of the vintage), this example revealed a dark ruby/garnet color with considerable amber at the edge. The 1972 has always possessed plentiful acidity, but this bottle revealed even more than what has been consumed from my cellar. The wine exhibited a tell-tale, peppery, spicy nose with well-displayed smoky Syrah fruit notes. However, in the mouth, the fruit appeared to be fading, and the acidity as well as tannin had taken the upper hand. If this is typical of the evolution of the 1972, the acidity has become dominant and the wine has become attenuated. A bottle tasted in late 1998, which merited a score in the low nineties, was a complex, full-bodied wine still in possession of its glycerin and fruit.