Silver Spur Pinot Noir 2002
I have to admit, I was expecting very little from this wine. Silver Spur was completely unknown to me, as I’d never seen the winery name in a retail shop, on a restaurant list, nor read in a wine magazine. It was sent to me by MyWinesDirect, an internet-only retailer that specializes in introducing unknown wines to ignorant palates such as mine.
With such low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the wine, immediately apparent after being poured into the glass. The nose is forward, and open, and exudes a fresh, ripe aroma of strawberries, black cherry, earth, and a distinctive smokiness. Though this wine hails from California (specifically, Carneros in Napa Valley), it is more “old world†in style – one of the few American Pinot Noirs that remind me of red Burgundy. Unlike the jammy, over-the-top Pinots typically produced in the West Coast heat, this wine is ripe but not overwhelming, and retains both a rustic character and a tie to its terroir (soil).
In the mouth it has a silky smooth texture, and fills the mouth with ripe black cherry, red raspberry, ripe strawberry, some vanilla spice, and a touch of earth and leather. Acidity is appropriately medium, and tannins are likewise. Alcohol is there but subdued, so the finish is barely warm. All in all, an elegant, polished wine that is well balanced, full of fruit, and has an appealing finish. It is enjoyable alone, but will be better with lean dishes, such as turkey, fish, chicken, vegetarian. Or have it with a mild cheese or simple appetizer.
a-9 t-9 b-9 fc-8 v-8 ~ 93 Points
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If you can’t pronounce Pouilly-Fume, don’t fret — you need only recognize it when you see it on the shelf (you can always point it out to the sommelier in a restaurant as well, without embarrassment). 
The latin-looking letters on the label may confuse you, or make you think this wine is Greek. But in fact it is a wine made by a Frenchman from grapes in an Italian vineyard owned by the American Jess Jackson. Got that ? OK, on to the wine …
I let this wine sit in the glass for more than an hour before tasting … the winemaster Pierre Seillan says to decant the Arcanum wines a good TWO hours before imbibing. Even after an hour, the aromas are still struggling to get out from under. And what appears from under the depths hints at excellence. I get whiffs of black fruits, complex earth and tar. From the nose, there seems to be a lot of layers here. On the palate, again the characteristics are subdued, but paying close attention reveals a remarkable complexity: ripe black raspberry, black currant, hints of anise and cassis, sweet earth and tobacco, black pepper, cardamom, and vanilla, all tightly wrapped by ripe tannins, mild acidity, and alcohol. The finish lingers for over a minute, and the tannins are still coating the tongue, with gentle fruit and spice in the background, a good three minutes later. This is subdued now, with a few years’ cellaring it should explode into a huge wine to contemplate with exquisite cheese or enjoy with a ribeye. 
As with the other Arcanum wines, yes I did let this sit … and sit … and sit … I opened it and poured it and didn’t give it so much of a gander for an hour and a half and it still was showing very little on the nose, other than black pepper, maybe a hint of something meaty … or chocolatey … and a hint of black fruit. In the mouth it displays a little bit more than the nose, and actually gets more flavorful in the finsh.