Arcadian Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2000

BN#140957

1999 was in many ways a carbon copy of 1998; a poor set exacerbated by a cool spring and summer. The fall brought a lingering that pushed harvest dates back a full ten days to two weeks. In the second week of September, we experienced a heat spike that raised afternoon temperatures into the 90's, unusual for the Central Coast. This heat spell brought around the flavors in the grapes and turned what could have been a dismal vintage into a grand one. This sudden increase in temperature caused a respiration of acidity reducing the overall acid in the grapes at harvest. Mother Nature always gives us tradeoffs and this time, she exchanged flavors for some structure.

Peter's Notes: I like this style of Pinot quite a bit. It's not an overly rich new world style and has some very pretty floral aromatics. The palate is a touch thin but still shows some excellent earth components and balanced tannins. Rather impressive.