2002 Arcadian Pisoni Vineyard

Winemaker Joe Davis's love of elegance and restraint might seem at odds with the Santa Lucia Highlands' famous Pisoni Vineyard, which typically produces powerful, intense, fruity, even flamboyant Pinot Noirs. But in Arcadian's brilliant '02, the result is a gorgeously balanced wine, with the scent of flowers and the texture of satin.

The harvest of 2002 was characterized by two significant conditions at Pisoni Vineyard. The first had to do with weather and the second water. Initially the weather was defined by a cool, wet spring which resulted in a small high quality crop with intense flavors and uniform richness. However after the cool windy summer, a sudden heat spike in early September brought on some dehydration.

The issue with water was that we tried to push the envelope early and often by figuratively as Gary Pisoni likes to say "make the plants scream for water." I think perhaps we pushed to hard and as a result yields were cut in half to less than a ton per acre. Though the resulting fruit was outstanding it did it takes it toll on the vines and hence we have taken a much less aggressive approach with regard to water from here on out. We began our harvest on September 9th and harvested a total of 1.87 tons from our 2 acre parcel at the top of the main block. Fruit was pristine and very little if any was discarded during the triage.

Several parcels now comprise the now famous Pisoni Vineyard. The Main block and the Elias block seem to be the source of the best Pinot Noir fruit. Although I suspect the others will catch up quickly. The fruit for this wine comes from perhaps the most coveted parcel on the ranch. It is at the top of the main block and contains the steepest slope.

These are some of the oldest vines on the property and perhaps have the best chance to make the best wine. It is planted to a unilateral cordon with a vertical shoot positioning. With a unilateral cordon you get less fruit generally because you have half of the fruiting canes on the plant. The vertical shoot trellis enables the farmer to prune in a way that allows the clusters to develop in a symmetrical line thus giving uniform ripeness across the clusters.

The south east facing slope gives this vineyard optimal sun exposure and the vineyard are set back out of the fog line that is so prominent in the Santa Lucia Highlands. Matt Kramer once explained to me that Pisoni Vineyard was in a nexus, meaning that it was just outside of the area where you think you should plant Pinot just slightly warmer thus giving it something distinctive and amazing. He said only the greatest vineyards are planted in the nexus.