TN: Arcadian Dinner with Joe Davis - Something old, something new

Paging the note takers that attended this dinner.

Never heard of Arcadian Don Julio? Read on!

ARCADIAN DINNER WITH JOE DAVIS - SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW - A’s Restaurant, Newport Beach, CA (2/9/2014)

With the rest of the country battling old man winter we were fortunate to start our event with this sunset over Newport Beach on a cool but beautiful evening.

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I’ve been to tastings in a private room at a restaurant but a private building? That’s a first. The building sits in the back parking lot by the valet. The inside is exposed wood beams which gives a rustic lodge feel and very comfortable.

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Chef’s Menu for the tasting. Really nice lineup worked well with the wines.

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Bubbles from France
Joe Davis is an interesting and engaging man. His philosophy of wine making hasn’t changed in the 30 years since he took the leap. The formula is simple; pick the berries at low pH and low brix. Interestingly, this strategy is very popular now with winemakers focused on balance. Joe is part entertainer, chemist, and artist. He’s an unabashed fan of Dujac and their influence in his own winemaking. From a business perspective he’s unique. Just released a 2008 Chardonnay? Most wineries are offering the 2012 vintage but Arcadians style is built for the long haul and Joe isn’t releasing anything that needs extended barrel time just to get to market resulting it an extensive winery inventory. Something his banker wishes he’d reconsider. Joe showed up with a plan. He brought something old and something new for each wine so we could experience the effects of aging. It really added to the banter among participants as we dissected and contrasted between differing vintages of the same wine. A common thread tying Arcadian wines is the use of oak, long barrel times, and whole cluster.

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• 2007 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray Pétillant
  Light yellow color. Yellow apple and citrus aromas. Palate is a hint of brioche and sour apple. Medium sized bubbles and a bit of foam. A little sweet on the attack. Medium finish. Very refreshing and great start.

Chardonnay Something New
Hamachi Crudo - yuzo, cilantro, shallots, and blood orange

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• 2008 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
  Medium yellow color. Barrel aged for 45 months. Whole cluster. Medium plus acidity. Attack has a creamy or velvet mouthfeel but the acid has a clean cut there after. Noticeable spicy cinnamon and red pepper spice med palate. Very light Carmel note as well. I like it.

Chardonnay Something Old
Jumbo Diver Scallop - lemon risotto, Brussels, parmesan, and coriander oil

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• 2000 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
  Drinking this at 14 years of age. Spent 22 months in barrel. Came from a crappy vintage according to Joe but he wanted to show that even in off years his wines will age gracefully. Looks like a Sauternes, dark gold color. Apple and pear flavor with medium plus acidity, still. Medium plus weight and a silky mouthfeel. Excellent and still going strong.

Pinot Noir - Sleepy Hollow
Pork Tenderlion with fennel and herb spaetzle

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• 2001 Arcadian Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
  Color holding up well, still pretty dark. Ripe raspberry and cherry, oaky spice with a charcoal note. Tannins nearly resolved. Winner.
• 2005 Arcadian Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
  I wrote a note on a flawed bottle, it wasn’t severe because we debated whether it was mild TCA or something else. The nose was muted which sent up a red flag. I did get a quick pour of the other bottle but I had moved on to the next flight. It was good though and the nose was very apparent as expected.

Pinot Noir
Seared Squab Breast - potato and rapini hash with Pinot reduction

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• 2001 Arcadian Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
  Crazy dark color especially considering it is 13 years old. Dark cherry and raspberry aromas with medium plus toast. Palate is ripe fruit and layers of oak influence. 100% whole cluster but not much stem notes or they’ve just integrated.
• 2008 Arcadian Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
  2008 and it’s still a youngster. There’s a sweet red fruit profile and the significant whole cluster is rearing its head with a rough and astringent finish. I still like it but it definitely needs more cellar time. While most preferred the 2001, I kind of had an affinity for this vintage.

Syrah
Imperial Wagyu Striplion - Swiss char, heirloom carrots, and celery puree.

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• 2007 Arcadian Syrah Don Julio Riserva Stolpman Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley
  Big treat sprung on us by Joe, we are the first to taste this wine from the bottle. He brought an unlabeled bottle which is comprised of a few barrels which his assistant Don Julio declared as the best barrels he’s ever tasted. In honor Joe named the wine after him. Spent 60 months in barrel. 100% whole cluster and new oak. This is dark fruit flavored, oak showing, and still slightly astringent. Big muscular Syrah designed to last forever.
• 2005 Arcadian Syrah Purisima Mountain Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley
  Great nose, beautiful. The balance of this wine jumps out at me. Blackberry fruit and medium acid with a touch of game. Scribbled “Pinot like” for a Syrah which is OK by me. Might be my WOTN.

Stickies
Cream Puff with dark chocolate, chopped pistachios, and pomegranate compote.

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• 2004 Château d’Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  Had this wine 5 years earlier and loved it then, love it now. Apricot and nectarine flavors with the amazing glycerin mouthfeel. Even a little creme brûlée on the finish.
• 2004 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Quarts de Chaume
  First time with a sweet Chenin. I like the flavors which were crisp tropical fruit, honeysuckle, and a light relatively clean mouthfeel for a sweet wine which I liked. While a Sauternes is a fantastic special occasion treat this is light enough to pair with a meal like spicy Thai food.

As we began winding down the evening Joe said "there are four bottles leftover, let’s have everybody play against me in rocks, paper, scissors and the last four people standing can take a bottle. Never saw 12 people jump up into a perfect circle around Joe so quickly. Sadly, I was bounced out on the very first round and Chris was crushed in the third. Congratulations to our winners, great wines with an even better story to share when they open them.
Posted from CellarTracker

Love Arcadian Wines! Sounds like you had a great time, Joe is the best!

Dain

Jealous…oh BTW, thanks for the notes!

What the heck…where did you get the information about this? I would have loved to attend! It looked like something right up my alley.

Awesome writeup and pics, thx for sharing!

I wonder how long the pinots will go. I have probably half a case of the '01 Sleepy Hollow. I think it’s fantastic now. I’d love to see if it can make 20 years.

05 Purisima Syrah rocks. I still have some of that and I went all in on that several years ago. Some very good wines here. Very nice guys.

Don’t overlook the '05 Stolpman Syrah as it too is in a fabulous place and provides a bit more oomph than the Purisima.

Thanks for sharing Brig!! Joe is certainly one of my favorite wine makers.

Great line up with a great guy. Wish we could do that in PA.

Fun night with Joe D. & company and as usual Brig does a great job on re-capping the night. Hats off to Chris Seiber for organizing the event and persuading Joe D to make the trek down south. I’ll chip in as best as I can, even though I left my brief notes sitting on table at end of the night.

First off this little “room” behind “A Restaurant” is perfect for this type of gathering - very private, cozy, unique and close enough to main building that the service was flawless. Also the food was well beyond adequate, it was very, very good.

The hamachi crudo had a jalapeño reduction that gave it a little kick and the '08 Sleepy Hollow Chardonnay was a perfect match, cutting through the heat. The '00 SH Chardonnay was really rich with adequate acidity and did pair well with the very rich scallop dish with a lemony risotto. I preferred the younger version which was much more chablis like in nature.

The '01 & '05 SH pinots were both drinking very well with a slight nod going to the '01 on this night and yes I do believe this wine will live to see its 20th birthday with ease. Just starting to enter its secondary life and beginning to show some earthiness with plenty of red fruit still in attendance. I am sure the '05 is heading down the same road. I am sipping on the remains of one of the leftover '05’s tonight and it is so smooth and a joy to drink. The pork/fennel dish was perfect with these wines (I was licking my plate on the pork dish - really delicious).

'01 & '08 Pisonis with the squab dish were good as well with the '01 providing a bit more pleasure than the '08 which was a little harsh - sure it needs some more time in cellar. Both of these wines were a little heavier than the Sleepy Hollows.

If you look closely at the picture that Brig posted of the wagyu striploin you will see a sliver or 2 of black truffle. Starting to loosen up a bit at this point, I was able to snag a couple of slices from my tablemates for my last bite and what a bite it was! I love black truffles when they are good. The Purisima syrah was very meaty and dark fruity, the Don Julio was too young and needs decades in the cellar. Interesting story about the wine though.

The '04 Baumard Quarts de Chaume beat out the '04 Y’quem on this night with just lovely acidity that was so refreshing at this point in the night.

Really a fun night with the OC wine group and fun to meet some new peeps. Continuing the confirmation that Joe’s wines age effortlessly, are balanced and low in alcohol. “In Pursuit of Balance” is nothing new for this California veteran.

What a great dinner composed by Mr. Seiber. The food was a definite plus, big improvement over Montage, this showed some attention to detail with strong technique and good flavors. Joe is very animated with great stories and an encyclopedia of wine knowledge. The wines require patience and this tasting shows it is rewarded.

• 2008 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  Interesting to read this note without seeing my last, very similar. At dinner. White flowers, citrus, very spicy, lemony, rich, spicy, decent cut with some kind of caramel note. Tasty, but not totally in harmony just yet.

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2000 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  Darker color. Very young on the palate. Bright, citrus, spice, med+ acid with great cut, subtle cheesy funk, very balanced, perfumey, good length, perfumed finish. Really enjoyed this and this was a bad vintage, the 08 will easily surpass this (says Joe). (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2001 Arcadian Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  Nose- tart, rhubarb green, ash, decomposing log. Similar palate, ash, red cherry, spice, twangy, very long. It’s a fair bit sharp, but as open knit as it is, makes up for it. Textured and open. Lots of expression, just coming in to it’s own. WOTN.

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2005 Arcadian Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  At Arcadian dinner. First bottle identified by maker as corked. It was mute, just like my first bottle. Dumped, next bottle ok. Compared to '01, smoother, but far more compact. More expressive fruit, red cherry, strawberry. Similar profile to the '01 but this needs quite a bit of air.

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2001 Arcadian Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  At Arcadian dinner. Compared to Sleepy Hollow, richer, cleaner, layered, cherry candy, licorice, cranberry. Not much for secondary characteristics at this point. Very sneaky long on the finish. This shows like it is about 3-4 years old. This will go 20 more easy.

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2008 Arcadian Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  Delicious and bold red fruit, but I am finding this primary, tight, and grippy. Hold.

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2005 Arcadian Syrah Purisima Mountain Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (2/9/2014)
  At Arcadian dinner. Lots o’ stems. Needs plenty of air to come around. Great fruit, but compact with cherry and licorice. Seems too young but really getting better with air and exploded with some well paired food. Insanely balanced, showing great poise with lots of air. A feminine and perfumed syrah. Love it.

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2007 Arcadian Syrah Don Julio Riserva Stolpman Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (2/9/2014)
  At Arcadian dinner. Compared to the Purisima, richer and spicier. More depth with some hard candy to add to the red fruit but it is still feminine with all that richness. Rather crisp with admirable length and a medium acid profile. Extremely young, as was the 05 Purisima. These could use at the very least 10 more years sideways. Much more to be found here is my guess.

Posted from CellarTracker

Great notes, guys.
So many nice wines.
The 2001 Sleepy Hollow Pinot Noir is a great wine.
One of Joe’s finest.
Looks like a great night.

Sounds like a great dinner. Can anyone comment on how the Don Julio syrah compares to Hommage à Max syrahs?

Certainly not falling apart at this point and you’ll probably be rewarded for holding. It’s a beautiful wine as attested to by the others.

I found it fascinating that Joe really makes an effort not to introduce O2 into the equation which is where you’ll get the “Pinot funk” from the reductive aspect on the pop n pour. I think he used the term “reductive style” describing his wine making philosophy.

He didn’t explicitly state that he doesn’t rack but he made it clear that he avoids racking to minimize exposure to oxygen. He believes racking significantly affects age worthiness.

Brig, terrific job getting the thread going. Hopefully, everyone (and maybe even Joe) will chime in.

I’ll start with my tasting notes, and I’ll try to write something later in the thread on some of the many interesting topics that Joe relayed to us over dinner. He is a firehose of wine knowledge, opinion and ideas, and there is no way I can do it justice in attempting to recount from memory, but I’ll try later on.

• 2008 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/10/2014)
  This was a zesty young chardonnay. Lots of white flowers and bright lemon fruit, some subtle earth and white pepper, and long, spicy, tart finish. With the aging curve of Arcadian wines, this is truly a baby many years from showing its full range, but also delicious now if you want a really bracing, clean young chardonnay. Joe said this spent 45 months in barrel (I think about 35% new oak?), and yet there isn’t anything oaky or creamy about the wine. More on this interesting topic in a later post. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2000 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/10/2014)
  A medium gold color, which would be a sign of probably doom in most chardonnays, but this was not oxidized. This has hints of marshmallow and caramel at the outset, then coconut, truffles, damp earth, and tingling baking spices. For all the richness and complexity, it still has good acidity and finishes cleanly, without heaviness. I think the 2008 will surpass this in the next 5-10 years, but on that night, this was a bigger hit. A perfect match with risotto and a rich scallop. (94 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2001 Arcadian Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/10/2014)
  Still a very young wine, but one which gradually opened over several hours. Bright red and black cherry and roses at the outset, but the wine pulls back considerably in the middle, with a clean transparency to the fruit that lets mineral, cinnamon and clove take center stage. The wine put on weight and the secondary characteristics and overall generosity of the wine become more obvious as the evening went on. A beautiful wine, and one that should probably continue to improve over the next 5+ years and last far longer than that. (95 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2005 Arcadian Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/10/2014)
  This is still a tight, young pinot. You get red cherry, cranberry and some fruit pit flavors, very clear, clean and weightless, lots of mineral and acid. This seems similar to the 2001, but substantially less evolved and open yet. I would hold this for several more years, or at least give it a long, slow aeration to get it to show more of itself. I expect great things for this wine down the road. (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2001 Arcadian Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/10/2014)
  Darker purple velvet in color, in contrast to the medium red of the two Sleepy Hollow pinots in the previous flights. This starts with powerful purple berry fruit, but it avoids any excess weight the rest of the way. You get more chalky mineral, fruit skin, and ample spice, with a long finish. I have long marveled that Joe can produce such a restrained and long aging wine from this vineyard, which otherwise seems to produce such lush, powerful, big styled wines (not bad ones, mind you, just so very different from Arcadian’s). Joe explained that this site produces wines with tremendous extract and volume, yet by harvesting weeks earlier and making sub 14% alcohol wines like this one, he gets the signature power and concentration of Pisoni without the weight and sweetness. He said it’s like sites like Richebourg, which can produce intensely concentrated pinots that are still elegant and weightless (he stressed that he is not comparing his wines to Richebourg, but just using that as an example of what he means witt the Pisoni vineyard). Just from the standpoint of being a taster, I agree with his explanation here, and I continue to marvel at the difference the winemaker can make from a given site in a given vintage. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2008 Arcadian Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/10/2014)
  The fruit here is more towards sweet strawberry, with a bit of light cream. Lots of baking spice develops as the wine opens up. The finish is a bit rough and stemmy, reflecting the youth of this long-aging wine. This is overall a showier wine than the 2001, but less knit together. It should be great with more age. (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2005 Arcadian Syrah Purisima Mountain Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (2/10/2014)
  This sort of was to the syrah flight as the Sleepy Hollow pinot was to the pinot flight; the brighter, redder, crisper of the two. Whereas the 2007 Don Julio Riserva was more in the camp of the Pisoni pinots. I didn’t say that very well, but hopefully you at least get the idea. This is syrah in a fresh, crunchy red fruit style. Like you just picked some medium-ripe red berries off a bush you found in some mountain forest. Brambly, a bit stemmy, with some crisp mineral and acid, and no obtrusive oak at all. A young wine which should become fleshier and more generous in the future, but it’s quite delightful now in a sharper style. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2007 Arcadian Syrah Don Julio Riserva Stolpman Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (2/10/2014)
  I’m not much of a syrah drinker, and my wife is less so, but this was spectacular. Violets, bright boysenberry and blackberry fruit, with just a hint of vanilla cream. I think much more complexity will emerge with age, but this had a persistence to the beam of pure purple berry fruit that went on and on after each taste. 60 months in barrel, yet there is no particular oakiness to the wine, just a real purity of the fruit shining brightly. You couldn’t help but smile broadly after each sip. (96 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

• 2004 Château d’Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes (2/10/2014)
  I had meant to open this the night before, but my nine year old broke his finger at baseball practice, we spent the whole evening at the hospital, and I didn’t get to it until the middle of the day. I double decanted back into the bottle around noon that day, and we served it at a light chill, probably around 50 degrees. This is a beautiful young Sauternes, with generous and comforting baked cinnamon apple flavors, with lots of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove spice. It seems de rigueure to say “needs a bit more acid” in a Sauternes tasting note, and I would have liked it more with more acid, but it was certainly adequate. Very pleasing, yet not something I’d probably want multiple glasses of in one setting. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

I’ll loop back later to share more about the event and about Joe Davis, but I wanted to add my tasting notes to the conversation at this point.

Thank you to everyone for supporting this truly special event and for taking time to share your experiences with the Wine Berzerker community.

What a fun night everyone! I love doing these informal and intimate dinners where you get to speak at length to everyone. If the dinner hadn’t been so delicious I may have spoken at greater length. A home-run to The Seiber’s for working out all the details of this event.

Thanks for the kind comments, Brig. Everyone worked together to make it such a successful event, so the credit belongs many places, most of all with Joe Davis for agreeing to come and to provide all the wines and knowledge.

The restaurant also did a terrific job – great job designing the menu to complement the wines perfectly, great service and execution, entirely fair pricing, and that separate dining room is tailor-made for this kind of event – you can sit and mingle easily, you have your own giant TV and music if you want, lots of room to spread out wines and other stuff, no issue about other diners around or noise, no worries about the need to turn the table for other guests afterwards. And the food was just really excellent, completely confounding what might be a natural assumption that A Restaurant is another one of those places that gets by on location and lots of beautiful people.

I asked Joe about this issue, and my understanding was this: he believes that the oxygenation that comes during the winemaking process and from racking contribute to the poor ageability of many wines. As such, he is experimenting with very long time in barrels (45-60 months), but in an reductive environment, where you don’t rack and you only top up. Then, in the last 6-8 months of the extended aging, he racks the wine the minimum amount to get the desired clarity.

I asked him why, with so long in barrel, these wines were clearly coming out with scarecely any oak signature. I struggled to follow the answer, but I think he believes that the way wine interacts with wood is different both in the reductive environment and with the lower pH and Brix that he harvests at.

Maybe we can get Joe to come join the discussion on this topic, as it’s quite fascinating, and the results he is getting are hard to argue with.

What a real great evening to be together. Having known Joe for some time and back in the day when we had the fun exchanges between he, Adam Lee and Brian Loring, what I think was from the old eBob era, it was good to sit next to Joe and listen to his approach and philosophy.

Having seen my own palate change over the past few years, I am better able to see Joe’s work in a different context. His approach to aging and holding back wines, both in barrel and bottle, to let the wines be what he wants them to be when they land with his customers, I value that ideal. Whether you like the wines or not, much like a Brian or Adam who I also have known over the years, it’s been a similar commitment to make what they like and follow a vision, albeit different. It’s why all three men and their wineries have endured for this many years, and I respect them all for that enduring, tenacious quality.

For the style Joe is making now, I enjoy it and see it fitting now into my cellar. I would not have made that comment 5 years ago but where there is red fruit, earth, acid, this is where I found the pinots tasting this past weekend. The 2001 Pisoni is just chugging along and is really good. And, I learned a lot about Sleepy Hollow and enjoying that plot, too. My notes can tell the story and add to the discussion above.

Chris, thanks for taking the leadership role and being yet another OC anchor to steer and run a dinner. You managed the nuance and detail very well and made for a great evening, the comments above tell that story, I agree with them, too. Much like Andrew did with Poe last month, wonderful to see more of the group stepping up and creating a forum for the wines they like, the people within those wines like Samantha from Poe, now Joe from Arcadian. Well done.

• 2000 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  Bronzing a bit in color, yet still reflecting plenty of acidity and nearly 14 years old. The acidity appears through an expression of lime, with a little brulee’d edge but the wine doesn’t get sweet or gloppy and the acidity carries nicely into the finish.
• 2001 Arcadian Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  Boy, is this a helluva wine. Made with 100% whole cluster, yet the wine seems to have absorbed all of the stems as I just don’t sense much of them here. Soily, spicy nose that has a rocky quality. At over 10 years old, there is such a current of youthful fruit in this wine. Vibrant dark cherry and herb, with cranberry/sour cherry and acid all moving into the finish where it shows some truffle and a youthful, fatter texture. Zesty, young and as I drank it, I told Joe that I thought this might be a 30 year wine, well easily go another 10 years. Note–I drank this from mag over the 2013 holiday season and I had a much different reaction to the wine. Tasting experiences and context, bottle storage and other inputs do affect tasting experiences so if I was to take a position on which of my notes is more on target, I would go with my experience from last night.
• 2001 Arcadian Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  The aromatics on this are cool–reminds me of burgundy with rose petal and rustic/cracked spice that reflect from the whole cluster. The flavors are also reflective of an old world feel, with soily, red fruit and what I put in my notes as a muddled red apple. Fantastic.
• 2005 Arcadian Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  Tasted alongside the 2001. (I should note that the bottle that went into my glass was just freshly opened as the previous bottle was corked). Cranberry and strawberry, herb and rocky tannin. There is a hard candy feel texture this wine, pure and balanced. Where this differs from the 2001 is the youth here, being quite fruit centric at this age with lots of structure.
• 2005 Arcadian Syrah Purisima Mountain Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (2/9/2014)
  At the point in the night when I got to this wine, I was starting to pay less attention and my notes are brief. What I did note was the similarity of a wine like this to another I like, which is the 2010 Copain Baker Ranch. Both of these syrahs represent an intersection of pinot and syrah, where the flavors reach a collision and seem more like siblings than friends. Berry, sweet leather, lighter bodied and more elegant. Would be interesting to put Joe’s wine and the Baker Ranch into a blind syrah or pinot lineup and see if they could not only separate themselves but be deemed as the same or similar kind of wine.
• 2008 Arcadian Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  Aged just under 4 years in barrel, 35% new along with mix of 1-3 year old, then 15 months more in bottle. Some of the new oak appears, but at this stage it’s subtle, with a ligt hint of vanilla and citrus curd. The balance on this is very nice, middle weight flavors of meyer lemon and whiff of banana.
• 2008 Arcadian Pinot Noir Pisoni Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (2/9/2014)
  Drank next to the 2001, this 2008 is less whole cluster, about 60% total was used. This wine seems less fruit dense than the 2001, here showing for me an herb nose with violets, then a hard cherry candy and starwberry fruited profile, along with watermelon.

Posted from CellarTracker

Great notes and pictures guys, looks like a fantastic time.

Awesome dinner, y’all! Looks like Joe really pulled out all stops with those selections for the evening. {jealous}!