petite sirah in California

Hi all,

I'm new to this group, and am excited to have found it! I have a question about petite sirah. I'm going to a wine dinner next weekend with the theme of petite sirah between $12-25. I live on the central coast of California; any suggestions on good petite sirahs readily available in this price range in my area? As you can tell, I don't know a lot about petite sirah!

Thanks, Kari

Reply to
Kari
Loading thread data ...

Reply to
Joseph B. Rosenberg

"Kari" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...

hi Kari I've no idea about Petite Sirah in California, but a Google search on this ng retrieves umpteen messages - you might want to try it yourself! I found among other things: Ravenswood, Petite Sirah, Sonoma, 2002 This is one of the most appealing young Petite Sirahs I have tasted... 18USD

Reply to
Anders Tørneskog
Reply to
Joseph B. Rosenberg

Is petit syrah really durif?

I never knew that.

The durifs I've had were usually really chalky overwhelmingly cigar box wines. To the point of indrinkability. Really drying strong "woody" [not oak] things.

They were all Australians.

I have also not seen any durif blends that I can recall. Only a few pure durifs, that don't seem to sell that well. Nor do most ppl seem to even have heard of it.

A wine friend of mine bought some bottles of the De Bortoli Deen Durif, so be interesting to see his take on it.

Reply to
Mat

As others mentioned the EOS is quite good. Bogle is mediocre, and others may be hard to find. Any PS is worth a chance; if you can find the readily available Guenoc PS you have a winner; at the higher end of your price range Girard makes a great PS, dense and luscious for about $25. More and more wineries are paying attention to the PS now; asking your local wine merchant is a really good idea.

pavane

Reply to
pavane

Ridge has made really good Petite Syrah from the York Creek Vineyard for decades. That would be on the high end of your price scale (if you can find it). On the low end, Parducci makes a lighter style (but still pretty substantial) for ~$10. Costco carries it.

In the olden days (1970s) Carneros Creek and Mount Veeder made some monster Petite Syrahs. So did David Bruce.

Tom S

Reply to
Tom S

Along with the Ravenswood Petite, I've also had Ridge and Cline. All have been great wines with loads of pepper. I seem to remember that, yes, Ravenswood came from property in Sonoma, but I'm not sure about the other two. Seems that the Ridge was a Santa Cruz Mtn Petite, but the Cline *may* have been Central Coast. Actually, Plum Creek, CO/US did a very nice Petite some years back, but I doubt that you'd ever find it outside of Colorado, and then, probably only at the winery.

Expect to find ink black wines, with good black pepper. The bodies are usually very full, and IIRC the fruit was all over the place, with Ravenswood being most forward, with Ridge hanging back. A few years usually benefit the tannins, which can be a bit rough in youth.

I seem to recall that the thought on the geneology of Petite Syrah/Sirah has been traced to the Durif grape. I'd use the proper term for one who researches the DNA of a grape vine, but can't think of it right now!

Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

Petite syrah is indeed a synonym for durif but it gets pleasingly more complicated!!!

Quoting from James Haliday (probably Australia's foremost wine writer):

"..DNA fingerprinting has shown that California has in fact four different vines travelling under the durif name: durif itself; syrah; peloursin; and a peloursin-durif cross. The last is doubly strange, because durif was bred in France in the 1880s by Dr Durif from a cross of syrah and peloursin. Whilst briefly popular in France it has all but disappeared, everywhere except California... and Australia."

I would add that there are some excellent wines made from the durif grape in Australia, particularly in Rutherglen, eg Warrabilla and Morris. There are also an increasing number of makers in the warm climate irrigated regions making wine from durif, such as DeBortoli as previously mentioned by Mat.

Reply to
Keith

Hi Kari I was super impressed by the Vincent Arroyo Petite Syrah I had at the winery last September. Huge wine, great up front fruit balanced beatifully by the acid and tannins it was under $20 US. Cheers Andrew

Reply to
Andrew Goldfinch

Next time you are over Mat I'll open a Warrabilla Reserve Durif from Rutherglen. This is the epitome of Big Fat Red, Huge Blockbuster of a wine running the full spectrum of dark fruit, plum pudding spices and enormous alcohol (17 or 18% usually) It is magnificient. And yes it is also known as Petite Syrah (though there is some controversy about this). Cheers Andrew

Reply to
Andrew Goldfinch

You've got a nice shopping list here. As to wines previous posters mentioned, I'd second the EOS recs. I've loved a couple of Ridge York Creek PS , but wasn't sure they still made. Bogle used to make a good QPR PS, but quality seemed to slip in recent vintages (they got a lot of acclaim in mid90s, wonder if production went way up).

Haven't tried the Girard, but have liked Girard stuff in past.

One other to try might be Lava Cap in El Dorado, but their Granite Hill PS is a bit of a beast- I'd decant well in advance of your dinner.

Please report on what you bought and how dinner was!

Reply to
DaleW

There's that name again: "Vincent Arroyo". I've tasted several of his wines and liked all of them. That guy knows what he's doing.

Another Petite Syrah you might try is Victor Hugo. He takes measures to control the tannins, which can be so extremely overwhelming in a Petite, but he still leaves in plenty.

Tom S

Reply to
Tom S

I'm pretty sure their York Creek bottling is from Napa Valley grapes.

Ridge does get Petite Syrah from other areas, such as Lytton Springs in Sonoma County, but in that particular case it always ends up blended into the Zin as a minority component. It happens that way because the vineyard is a field blend, which was not uncommon in those days (over 100 years ago). BTW the vines are head pruned, which is also unusual today but common practice then.

Tom S

Reply to
Tom S

Tom S,

You are correct. I checked my old cellar notes, and the Ridge PS to which I referred was, indeed, York Creek. I had not recalled the vineyard designation, but have confirmed. Thanks for jogging my memory.

Speaking of "field blends," I picked up a few bottles of Ridge's "Field Blend" not too long ago, and though the Zin was dominate, many other, positive, aspects come through. For about US$15/btl, it is a very nice wine, though it saw little retail shelf-space in the PHX area. My guess is that consumers, or marketers, didn't want to go with a non-varietally named wine - especially if it did not carry the Meritage lable . (Small reference to another thread).

Now, all I have to do is find the cellar notes on the Cline.

Again, thank you, Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned Foppiano--so let me be the first ;-)

Rick Gerwin

Reply to
RJG

Reply to
Joseph B. Rosenberg

Funny you should mention that. When I said "Parducci" (?) I _meant_ Foppiano. That's the one they carry at Costco that's such a steal for ~$8.

Hard to tell all those old, Italian winemakers apart... :^/

Tom S

Reply to
Tom S

Heavens, yes. If you've never visited him, make sure to do so when in the Napa Valley. Very small, on a side-road near Calistoga. He's always been pouring himself whenever I've been there. Superb stuff.

Dana

Reply to
Dana H. Myers

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.