December 18, 2018 - Pizza Dinner with Arcadian Winemaker Joe Davis (Darren Howard's home): pizza dinner at Darren Howard's with Arcadian winemaker Joe Davis
July 4, 2015 - Bobby BBQ (B&A's): Blind. Mellow, earthy, slightly meaty red fruit with sous bois and a touch of caramel. Complex and quite long. Very attractive. Could be Burg or maybe Oregon. Ah, apparently I've had another bottle from this case previously, but none the wiser. ****
June 15, 2013 - Wow, this was stellar. Opened to a bit of mustiness with funk. No cherry cola here, kind of dark and serious. Really opened up as night went on with the flavor and depth expanded to a super long finish. Spices and dark fruit. Winner.
May 2, 2013 - Leon's Burgundy @ Medlar (The Medlar, London): Served blind. Bien Nacido vineyard, Jill's Cuvée. Pale mid garnet. Quite evolved on the nose. Slightly sweaty, cabbages. Sweet fruit and a touch of caramel on the nose. Reminds me of an 89 Cathiard Aux Reignots on the palate, perhaps with a touch more caramel. Very nice indeed and very Burgundian. ****
October 10, 2007 - Noticeably light in color so you know you won't be facing an overextracted, hot fruit bomb. Classical style, coming along nicely, in fact wish I had more. Tart cherry with some plummy tastes, good acid backbone and pleasing finish
July 8, 2007 - Deep Ruby slight tarnishing on edges - black cherry, anise, violet, coffee gounds, and some asian spices very round and elegant - soft cherry fruit hints of tobacco and mocha warm and round with soft acidity.
April 10, 2007 - My first Arcadian PN. Had with grilled salmon over green lentils. Light to medium ruby color. Light perfume of spice and earth on the nose with some cherry and strawberry showing up as the night wore on. Bit of tart cherry on the palate, and a nice acidity level with nice balance overall. Relatively short finish. Overall very nice with food. Definitely not great without food (as Joe Davis intends for them to be)--not a criticism...just reporting a fact. I definitely like it enough to order some 2005s Arcadian PNs to cellar for awhile.
March 20, 2007 - Great with food great complement to Beouf Bourg, interplay between earthy cola and beefy wine sauce quite nice. Great textural balance as well. Enough tannin to keep interest, lively.
January 9, 2007 - Still very youthful and benefited greatly from decanting, as the initial woody scents (similar to the antique-furniture scents in the 2001 Sleepy Hollow I posted on last week) quickly developed into deeper aromas of game meat and underbrush. It has a lighter density of fruit than the Sleepy Hollow but is similar in viscosity with a sappy, glycerine texture. The sap is so thick that the mouthfeel is on the whole other side of the spectrum from silky or lacy; it's more like a shiny leather jacket. As expressive as it is, it needs more time to mellow.
December 31, 2006 - Light ruby color. On the nose, there was an intense, complex perfume of damp earth, spicebox (cinnamon, sweet asian spice), tart cherry and a touch of plum. On the palate it was silky with medium body. The taste drops off a bit, but there is a good acid zing.