The 2015 Arcus Estate Pinot Noir displays a medium ruby-purple color and notions of black cherries, black raspberries and mulberries with hints of stewed tea, balsamic and dusty earth. The palate is packed with ripe, rich berry preserves flavors, supported by chewy tannins and plenty of refreshing acidity, finishing with a spicy kick.

The 2014 Arcus Estate Pinot Noir was picked between 14-21 September with 5% whole cluster fruit. Matured in 49% new French oak, it has a well-defined bouquet with raspberry coulis, wild strawberry and a touch of undergrowth originating from that judicious addition of new oak. The palate is medium-bodied with pure raspberry and wild strawberry fruit, fine acidity that is necessary to counterbalance the almost viscous texture. It is seductively smooth in the mouth with a slight chewiness towards the finish. This should present several years of drinking pleasure.

The 2012 Arcus Estate Pinot Noir is the largest single-vineyard bottling from Archery Summit, planted in a bowl that holds the heat. This was picked October 8-18 and aged for 11 months in 38% new French oak. It has an exuberant bouquet with blackcurrant pastilles, orange rind and even a touch of marmalade, nicely focused and gaining vigor in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, a light saline touch, hints of white pepper coming through toward the finish with just a touch of glycerine that is accentuated with aeration. It offers moderate complexity but also a very long, spicy finish that lingers long after the wine has departed. This is one of the better releases from Archery Summit, though it comes with that three-digit price tag.

Archery Summit’s 2011 Pinot Noir Arcus Estate is another of their wines of this vintage to evince blue fruit character – blueberry and boysenberry, initially tinged with sandalwood and cardamom – that I don’t often find in this vintage. Fresh ginger and black pepper offer invigorating inflection, yet don’t detract at all from the underlying soothing influence of a polished, silken texture. A humus-like note and tincture of iodine contribute some darkness and intrigue – and a hint of caramel complimentary sweetness – to a lusciously long finish. Winemaker Chris Mazepink, incidentally – who was not responsible for any of the 2011s here, and was less enthusiastic about the vintage in general than other growers and vintners I interviewed – says this Arcus Estate reminds him more of a 2010 in its combination of polish and volume with energy and structure, and he thinks it will reveal a site-typical floral dimension after a few years in bottle. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to follow it through at least 2020. This March, Archery Summit experienced its fourth changing of the winemaking guard, as Chris Mazepink – previously at Benton Lane and Shea – replaced Anna Matzinger, about whose influence and successes there I wrote at length in Issue 202, and who was responsible for the 2011s I tasted this summer. I was surprised to hear Mazepink characterize the 2011 vintage as “slightly fragile and frail as a whole” – he much prefers 2010 – but he admitted to limited experience; and he puts great emphasis on textural richness. Still, his characterization certainly doesn’t apply to many wines that I tasted for this report, even if there were instances in the present collection where I had a sense that perhaps more fermentative extraction and exposure to new wood had been attempted than was in a wine’s best interests. (Since five out of seven wines here are routinely bottled before the following harvest, they in fact received a significantly shorter than usual elevage this vintage.) Matzinger, incidentally, stuck by her selective but often substantial inclusion of stems and whole clusters. (Considerable detail concerning the Archery Summit vineyard sites and what I now must refer to as Matzinger’s legacy can be found in my Issue 202 introduction.) Tel. (503) 864.4300

The 2009 Pinot Noir Arcus Estate is a bit reticent aromatically but with swirling reveals enticing aromas of sandalwood, exotic spices, incense, and assorted red and black fruits. In the glass it presents plenty of succulent fruit, a velvety texture, and outstanding depth and concentration for the vintage. This lengthy effort has the structure to evolve for 1-2 years and should drink well through 2021+. Veteran winemaker Anna Matzinger appears to have maximized what nature provided in the warm 2009 vintage. She describes it as “a friendly vintage with lots of sunshine in the glass”. www.archerysummit.com