I’m a member of the Arcadian wine club. I had told them that I only wanted Pisoni Pinots. I expected the most recent vintages to be sent.
I just received 2 bottles of the 2000 Arcadian Pisoni Vineyard Pinot. WIle that wine got great reviews, I’m concerned that the wine is already at its peak and if so, $80 a bottle is steep. Does anyone here have an opinion about whether this wine is still on its way up (or down) and how I should deal with Arcadian?
Don’t see many people suggesting this is over the hill. If you consider the price of this wine’s more recent releases, I think you got a pretty good deal on a wine that you can assume was properly cellared. I’m not sure you could say that about anything you would’ve bought at retail.
I completely agree with you. I know that Arcadian would never knowingly ship any wine past its prime.
My concern arose when I looked at the community drinking window on CT. The consensus is that 2013 is peak. If true, then I’d prefer to have a younger wine that I can have over the next 5-8 years as opposed to a wine (expensive, at least for me) that I have to drink very soon.
Bruce,
As is commonly the case with CT “community drink windows,” the community drink window given for that wine is, flat-out, wrong. IMO, this wine is nowhere close to past its peak — heck, it might not even have reached its peak yet! I’ve entered a personal drink window into CT for that wine of 2010-2020. I wouldn’t be surprised if it lives longer than that.
Even though Arcadian’s Pisoni is my favorite Pinot Noir from them, I, too, am curious why you only want the Pisonis; the other vineyards are all very good, if not great, especially the Sleepy Hollow, which is relatively old vines for CA Pinot Noir.
I’ve had Jill’s, FIddlestix and other Arcadian pinots and enjoyed them all. I still have some in my cellar. I’m just more partial to Pisoni this year. I have a Sleepy Hollow, 2005, but have never tried that vintage. Maybe I’ll change next year. Maybe not. I’ve done the same with other wineries. With Windy Oaks, at first I only wanted the reserve. Then I only wanted the 100% whole cluster. Go figure.
Bruce:
If you have any questions at all - just call Joe. He is always very happy to address any questions and to talk about drinking windows, etc. I agree with Mr. Grafstrom above about drinking windows. The Pisoni has a long time to go yet.
I just had my first Arcadian a few weeks ago, a 2006 Fiddlestix pinot. A beautiful wine, fairly elegant, restrained and complex, with a long life ahead. I need to seek out more from that producer.
Chris, that '06 Fiddlestix is the greatest young Arcadian I’ve ever tasted. I’m a very big fan of the '05 line-up from top to bottom, but that '06 Fiddlestix was even better upon release in 2009. A bottle in 2011 was tighter, less expressive, no surprise that it had shut down partially. But it was more open and coming together nicely in January 2012. Glad to hear you found it open for business as well.
Bruce, I think it is odd that (a) you wanted a particular vineyard from a particular year, but (b) you only told Arcadian the vineyard part but not the year desired. If that is what happened, you should graciously accept what you have and pull the corks whenever you choose.
First of all (a), I only requested that they send me Pisoni only. The normal club offerings are always (as far as I know) the more recent vintages, but this was more of a library offering. Not to MY expectations. My bad.
Secondly, (b) I have (so far) graciously accepted (at $80/btl) the wine. Based on some comments here I am happy about what they sent to me. Surprised, but happy.
This is NOT an Arcadian rant. Arcadian is one of my favorite producers. I was confused and concerned about what I received. I think that I’ll call Joe next time and resolve it in 15 seconds.
One other point… Joe’s Chards are pretty awesome too. We had a tasting at the house a couple of years back, and Joe brought some older Sleepy Hollow Chards from late 1990s. I think most of us came away from that evening thinking that those 10+ year old Chards were amazing.
Bruce (and others), how does ordering from Arcadian work these days? Is there a wait to get on? Is it a mailing list or a wine club? Are there ordering minimums?
It is the Grand Cru Club. Two bottles of Joe’s choice every quarter. Occasionally he also offers specials. And you do get a discount as a member of the club on what he sends and other wines you order. Here is the link to read more: http://www.arcadianwinery.com/GCS.html
Joe used one of my previous quotes on the page — “a no brainer.”
And, if you want, you can have each shipment be more than two bottles; really, it’s 2 wines of Joe’s choosing each quarter. And, the “quarters” are clumped in the Fall and Winter, to avoid bad shipping weather. It’s an extremely flexible “club,” (you can substitute a different wine in if you don’t want to receive one of the wines selected for that shipment, and you can always add additional bottles of any available wines to your shipment. The benefits of being a member are enormous (great discount, free tastings, access to the occasional sale – which is sometimes on Library wines, and fantastic customer service). AFAIK, there is no wait to get on.
This is the last wine club or mailing list I’d be willing to give up. Like Ted said, “no brainer.”