ORIGIN: Arcus, meaning ‘bow’ in Latin, describes our estate vineyard that wraps around both sides of a small valley in the heart of the Dundee Hills. Capturing the distinctive terroir of this single vineyard, the 2005 Arcus Estate rewards Pinot Noir devotees with an expansive nose, compelling mid-palate, elegant finish and a superior expression of the varietal.

VINEYARD: The vines at Arcus Estate are planted on steep slopes that complicate farming, but consistently produce intensely flavored, rich fruit. This wine was made from plantings of self-rooted Pommard clones blended with Dijon clones 777, 667 and 115 grown on south, southeast and west facing slopes. The grapes at Arcus Estate were hand harvested between September 26th and October 18th, 2005, based on each block’s optimal physiological ripeness.

WINEMAKING: Fermentation for the 2005 Arcus Estate was conducted in both stainless steel and wooden open top fermentors utilizing an average of 3.3% whole clusters. The fruit was hand sorted and soaked cold for an average of 8.5 days, after which native yeast fermentation was allowed to proceed under temperature controlled conditions. During primary fermentation, tanks were manually punched down two times per day. After limited post fermentation maceration, the wine was sent via gravity to 83% new French oak Francois Freres, Damy and Tonnellerie Rosseau barrels where it aged in our caves for 11 months prior to bottling.

TASTING NOTES: This wine strikes with expansive floral and fruit aromas of violet and rose petal, fresh Bing cherry and red currant. The palate is generous, confectionary and concentrated with notes of violet pastilles, anise, cassis and fresh black cherries and black raspberries. Saturated with fruit on the palate, this wine shows great depth and succulence with plush, integrated tannins and notes of vanilla bean and fresh berries that persist through the finish. Expressive and concentrated, this wine will surely benefit from three to five years of proper cellaring.

PRODUCTION: This vintage produced 1,924 six-bottle cases, 120 magnums, and 40 3.0 L formats.

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