Wines> Library Wines> 2000 Arcus Estate Pinot Noir
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ORIGIN: Arcus, meaning "bow" in Latin, describes our estate vineyard that wraps around both sides of a small valley in the Red Hills of Dundee. Capturing the distinctive terroir, this single vineyard wine rewards Pinot Noir devotees with an expansive nose, elegant finish, and superior expression of true Pinot Noir crafted in Burgundian tradition.
VINEYARD: The vines at Arcus Estate are planted on a very steep slope which complicates farming, but produces intensely flavored, rich fruit. This wine was made from 1986 plantings of older self-rooted Pommard clones and recently planted Dijon clones 113, 114, 115, 667 and 777 on specially selected rootstock. The grapes in Arcus Estate were harvested in mid to late September of 2000. The 2000 harvest yields were exceptionally low, only 1.31 tons per acre, with a very small cluster and berry size. The concentrated grapes were harvested at great ripeness levels with a tremendous intensity of flavor and color. The quality and depth of this wine are outstanding.
WINEMAKING: A unique finesse was achieved by the delicate and gentle handling of grapes throughout the winemaking process in our 100% gravity flow facility. This wine was vinified traditionally by hand-picking and sorting the fruit, cold soaking the grapes with 30% whole clusters and using native yeasts. It was gently punched down up to three times a day. The wine was racked to 100% new French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and was aged for 12 months in barrel. Neither fined nor filtered, the 2000 Arcus Estate was bottled in September 2001.
TASTING NOTES: This dark, royal purple colored wine opens up with intense and layered aromas of violets and carnations, raspberries, black cherries, exotic spices, smoke, cassis and minerals. On the palate the wine is mouth-filling and multifaceted. The ripe tannins add structure, and the texture is full and rich from the great concentration of sweet fruit. Broad, intense and extremely long, the 2000 Arcus Estate could be the best Arcus we have crafted yet.
This vintage produced only 864 cases, available in our unique six-bottle box. It is also offered in 3-liter bottles in limited quantities.