Almost every winemaker in California who makes pinot noir professes to follow the Burgundian model. And, more or less, that's true. But with some winemakers, the "less" part is apparent, and plenty of shortcuts may be employed. But with winemaker Joe Davis at Arcadian Winery, based in Santa Maria, everything is always "more" Burgundian. Early in his career, he determined the best way to make pinot noir was to implement the French artisan traditional methods of grape growing and winemaking. To do that, he sources his fruit from some of the best vineyards on the Central Coast, ones that allow him some control over the grape growing, with low-yielding crops in the range of 2 to 2 1/2 tons per acre.

The winemaking is also traditional, emphasizing the "somewhereness" of the vineyard site rather than the "someoneness" of the winemaker. At harvest time, the whole cluster fruit is used (no destemming) and is cold soaked for several days. Fermentation is in small, wooden, open-top vats that are foot-treaded three to five times daily to extract as much possible color, tannin and richness from the grape skins. The wines complete fermentation (and age) in new French oak and are bottled unfined and unfiltered. Mr. Davis holds back his releases, giving them extended aging in his cellar; many of the wines will spend 22 months in barrel and an additional 14 months in the bottle. His pinots are not cheap, but he doesn't take any shortcuts and, in the quality sense, you get what you pay for. Plus, they have a good track record for aging.

My recommendations:

• Chardonnay 2000, Bien Nacido: Perhaps Arcadian has moved on to the 2001 vintage, but I recall tasting this particular chardonnay when it was the current release. It's a prime example of holding the wine back, to age both in barrel and in bottle, until Mr. Davis thinks it's ready to drink. Sourced from very specific blocks of Bien Nacido vineyard, the chard has a scintillating and expressive nose of tropical fruit, though not billowy or overdone. In the mouth, it's very streamlined and focused with lemon drop and lemon curd flavors. It has rich and decadent, slowly oxidized, butter cream notes on the midpalate that pleasurably catches you off guard. Then the buttercream permeates the lemon/pineapple/tropical fruit on the finish. This chard is ready for prime-time drinking now and for the foreseeable future; its great backbeat of acidity ensures its aging potential and compatibility with food.
• Syrah 2001, Gary's Vineyard: Dark color on this well-extracted baby with dark fruit, dark plum, lavender, garrigue (as the French say), provençal herbs and pepper . . . and that's just the aromatics! Huge flavors pop on the palate, including blackberry, black pepper, plum and dark berry. It acts very much like a top Cote Rotie at this stage, with the big bad boy of pepper seasoning the dark-fruit flavors. In fact, I can't think of another California syrah quite like this, with its combination of spice/black pepper and deep dish, flavorful dark/black fruits all together in one package. A classic syrah.
• Pinot Noir 2001, Gary's Vineyard: Of course, Mr. Davis is a Burgundian at heart and his main focus is on pinot noir. From a superior vineyard site in Monterey County, this pinot has sweet fruit aromas, red raspberry and red cherry, that waft immediately out of the glass. Well-rounded and full bodied in the mouth with sweet strawberry fruit, it also has so much wood spice and other aging characteristics truly integrated with the flavors at this point. The wine shows its sweet spot of fruit right on the middle palate and everything just flows from there. Smooth, spicy and bountiful fruit with a delicious upbeat finish. What's not to like here?
• Pinot Noir 2001, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard: From another superior Monterey County vineyard, this pinot shows more of the dark and dusky fruit aromatics; it's certainly not as bright and sunny as the Gary's. Concentrated black-cherry and dark-cherry flavors with hints of strawberry, raspberry and barrel toast. Plus more Burgundian characteristics, like floral, fecal and fauna, all wrapped up in one package. Deep and intense stuff but not hot and food-adverse in the maddeningly over-alcoholic sense. The balance of elements is the key here, all the way to the lengthy finish; it is harmonious and tightly wound, which bodes well for aging.
• Pinot Noir 2001, Santa Rita Hills, Fiddlestix Vineyard: The nose is a bit reticent at this point but it opens to show brighter red-fruit aromatics, principally raspberry and strawberry. Intriguing succulence and texture on initial tasting. Just as tasty as the other pinots but not as big or lengthy. It seems light in a way because of its pure strawberry fruit that comes through in spades, but texturally, its mouth-coating components make the wine much more than it initially seems at first taste. More than just a fruit bomb, it incorporates toasty wood spice into the mix, making this medium weight pinot supple and interesting to drink right now.
• Pinot Noir 2001, Central Coast: This wine showcases not only the winemaking ability of Mr. Davis, but also his blending skills, drawing from a mix of Gary's, Pisoni and Fiddlestix vineyards to create a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. Sweet fruit notes sing out of the glass, both bright and dark fruit side by side here. On the palate, the lighter fruit such as strawberry and raspberry seem to win out, so it's not a deep dish wine like the Sleepy Hollow version, but it still has plenty of fruit concentration in a very structured and balanced way. A bit of chewiness on mid-palate increases the complexity component and, surprisingly, the succulence factor. Among those pinots in the marketplace that are not a single vineyard designate and sport only a "Central Coast" appellation, this is a top-quality choice.

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