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CALIFORNIA PINOT NOIR | 1 | 2 | 3 |

2002 Arcadian
Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Pinot Noir
3 bottles available
$65.00 | Stephen Tanzer 91
Deep red-ruby color. Initially reticent nose opened to reveal black fruits, gunpowder, candied violet, mocha and black pepper. Sappy, saline and densely packed; not as fruity as the Pisoni but really blossomed in the glass, showing increasing sweetness and fat with aeration, along with complex flavors of currant, smoked meat and violet. Finishes with sweet tannins and sneaky length. (A second bottle was equally rich but not as delineated or primary; this one merited 88 points.)

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2003 Arcadian
Fiddlestix Vineyard Pinot Noir
3 bottles available
$85.00 | Stephen Tanzer 90+
Medium red. Aromas of strawberry, spice, smoke and earth. Juicy, tight and imploded but minerally and pure, with firm acids and solid tannic spine. Showing more intensity than fleshiness today, but appears to be built to age. Finishes with excellent length. How refreshing to find a California pinot under 14% alcohol. Like most of Joe Davis's pinots, this one needed extended aeration to show its stuff.

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2005 Arcadian
Clos Pepe Vineyard Pinot Noir
3 bottles available
$65.00 | Stephen Tanzer 92
Deep red. Intensely perfumed ("typical for this vintage," says Joe Davis), with a vibrant bouquet of raspberry, blackberry, dried rose and tobacco. Spicy, sharply focused red berry flavors are impressively sweet but restrained by zesty minerality. Dusty tannins slowly build on the long, juicy finish, which leaves a resounding echo of tangy raspberry.

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2005 Arcadian
Gold Coast Pinot Noir
3 bottles available
$65.00 | Stephen Tanzer
Vibrant red berry aromas are complicated by fresh flowers and incense. Taut, sharply focused strawberry and raspberry flavors in a medium-bodied wine that finishes with tangy minerality and good length. No excess fat here.

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2003 Arcadian
Pisoni Vineyard Pinot Noir
2 bottles available
$95.00 | Stephen Tanzer 91+
Medium red. Blackberry, cranberry and mint on the nose, lifted by pungent cinnamon and flowers. Juicy and nicely delineated, with a slightly high-toned flavor of cherry cola. Finishes with firm tannic spine and excellent length.

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2004 Williams Selyem
Peay Vineyard Pinot Noir
6 bottles available
$95.00 | Stephen Tanzer 92+
From a tiny crop level due to a poor flowering) Good deep ruby-red. Knockout, high-toned nose of black raspberry and minerals. Fully ripe but quite dry, pure and penetrating, with a youthfully aggressive character. The dense flavors of wild brambly berries and bitter chocolate reminded me of a wine on the Nuits-Saint-Georges/Vosne-Romanee border. Finishes with serious tannic spine. Very impressive but in need of some cellaring. May ultimately merit an even higher score.

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2004 Williams Selyem
Bucher Vineyard Pinot Noir
3 bottles available
$75.00 | Stephen Tanzer 90
Deep red. Perfumed nose combines spices, rose petal, mocha, underbrush, minerals and earth. Fat, lush and sweet; creamy but with shape. Dominant flavors of spices, white pepper and forest floor. Attractive, spicy wine, and better than the 2003 version.

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2004 Williams Selyem
Rochioli Riverblock Pinot Noir
2 bottles available
$110.00 | Stephen Tanzer 90
Dark red with ruby highlights. Complex and enticing on the nose, offering red cherry, rose petal, cola and loam-a real essence of Russian River Valley pinot. Suave and silky-smooth in the mouth, with pretty red fruit, floral and earth flavors. Less complex than the Flax but this boasts a wonderfully accessible texture. Finishes with sweet tannins and noteworthy persistence. Perfect for drinking over the next four or five years.

2003 Williams Selyem
Vista Verde Vineyard Pinot Noir
2 bottles available
$85.00 | Stephen Tanzer
Medium red. Reticent aromas of cherry, raspberry, meat, espresso and cinnamon, with hints of earth and forest floor. Dense but dry, showing more spices and minerals than primary fruit. This has rather prominent acidity and finishes with a pronounced oakiness.

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