Not much of a nose, but nice fruit - especially black raspberry, black cherry, and sour cherry. Asian spicess. Black top soil. Acids just substantial enough to go with a meal. Really nice, lengthy tannins. Heavyweight PN that has gently settled into a still substantial old age.
I used to buy everything Archery Summit released - and I am sorry to say that this is my last ASE bottle dating from Gary’s days (though I have a Red Hills & an Arcus, both from 99, still downstairs).
For all of the self-generated hype, this is a fantastic wine (still with a few years in the bottle) and far better structured than many of the easy drinkers coming from Oregon these days.
It was fun to drink and look back on those earlier days and fun to raise a glass to Gary Andrus. There will likely never be a better advocate for Oregon wine.
I don’t get this winery’s wines. I’ve tasted several recent vintages, and find them all grossly overoaked. (Had an argument on eBob with one of their employees on this, who insisted that they scaled back the oak. That’s not what my palate told me, however.)
I can’t really comment very much on recent vintages, as I stopped buying after the winery was sold and they had a complete turnover of key personnel, right around 00/01. But from 95/96 to 00 I loved the winery - Arcus being my favorite of their wines (terrific red/black fruit balance there).
They’ve heard the over-oaked criticisms and are working to refute that reputation. Their 06s had fairly controlled oak but the vintage character just wasn’t up my alley. The 99 Arcus is one of the tastiest OR Pinots I’ve ever had (July 09) and I’m fairly oakaphobic. The main issue with the producer is the QPR, IMHO.
