WTN: Maximum Overdrive

[David M. Bueker]

• 2008 Arcadian Syrah Hommage à Max - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (4/9/2020)
  Fascinating wine that has the suave character of a ripe Cabernet, combined with the sauvage, meaty elements of Syrah. Deep black fruit, herbal and tar aromas carry through an Impeccably balanced palate that echoes and expands the aromatics. My gosh I wish this was a magnum.

[Jenise]

I'm jealous. I've never had a Max, at least not the Hommage label. Max was mentioned though in an earlier release, around 2000 or maybe a bit even earlier, that I was very lucky to have. One of the best Arcadians I've had.

[David M. Bueker]

I had the 2004, and it was also excellent, but this was over the top good.

[Jenise]

I remembered a friend who was a big fan of Arcadian saying he only liked the pinots but didn't care for the syrahs (that may be generally true of his tastes, not sure), but when I found a passel of them on Winebid for $20ish each I bought many, various vintages but all within the 1999-2006 time frame. I may have loved the syrahs even more than the pinots. I can't imagine not being blown away by them unless you just plain don't care for the grape.

[David M. Bueker]

The Syrahs are my favorites. The Pinots were good, but never really grabbed me.

[Jenise]

My fave Arcadian syrah in May 2018:

Bill Spohn and I had been at lunch together where we tasted, as we always do, a lot of amazing wines. But later that afternoon I popped this, my backup bottle, with our spouses outside by the river. Bill commented that if this had been open at lunch, it would have been everybody's WOTN.

2006 Arcadian Syrah Stolpman Vineyard Santa Ynez Valley
Outstanding. A great example of Northern Rhone treatment of new world fruit at absolutely the peak moment in this bottle's life. Bits of tar, bacon and garrique on barely sweet new world fruit.

I've liked the pinots. An '01 Pisoni blew me away a few years back. It might be the greatest Cal pinot I've ever had. But the pinots haven't shown me the consistency the syrahs have.

I'm thinking, I shouldn't have let my sister-in-law relocate back to Israel...