Wines> Library Wines> 1999 Arcus Estate Pinot Noir
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Description | |
Press Acclaim | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
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 such distinctive terroir, this single vineyard wine rewards Pinot Noir enthusiasts with an expansive nose, elegant finish, and outstanding expression of true Pinot Noir crafted in Burgundian tradition with “New World” techniques.
VINEYARD: The vines at Arcus Estate are planted on a very steep slope which makes farming difficult, but produces intensely flavored rich fruit which yielded only 1.71 tons per acre in 1999. This wine was made from 1986 plantings of older self-rooted Pommard clones and recently planted Dijon clones 114, 115, 667 and 777 on specially selected rootstock. The grapes in Arcus Estate were harvested in early October 1999. The fruit had tremendous concentration of flavor and color due to the long hang time on the vines and small yields.
WINEMAKING: A unique finesse was achieved in this wine 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 25% whole clusters and using indigenous yeast. It was gently punched down one to three times a day. The wine was racked to 100% new French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and was aged for 11 months in barrel. Neither fined nor filtered, the 1999 Arcus Estate was bottled in September 2000.
TASTING NOTES: This darkly colored wine opens up with classic aromas of violets, ripe raspberries, dark cherries, carnations, cinnamon and minerals. In the mouth the wine is long and broad with an intense finish. The tannins are supple, ripe and well integrated. Loaded with true Arcus Estate terroir flavors and intense aromatics the 1999 Arcus Estate is a classic example of this estate vineyard site.
This vintage produced only 842 cases, available in our unique six-bottle box. It is also offered in 3-liter bottles in limited quantities.