A Petite Red That’s Big on Flavor
Ravenswood 2006 Vintners Blend Petite Sirah ($10)
Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠
Petite Sirah is on of those things, like Zinfandel: a California animal with roots in the less-travelled places of the Olde World. Originally known as Durif in Europe, the Petite Sirah varietal is grown in Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma and Monterrey Counties. California vintners probably used the more fanciful, French name for the same reason real estate speculators rechristen places with dull or ugly-sounding names — so they would sell better. It’s fortunes have waxed and waned over the years. It first came to prominence during the phylloxera epidemic that nearly destroyed the wine industry, when it largely supplanted the old Mission Grape varietal brought over by the Spaniards. By 1900 it had become very popular and widely grown and consumed. It remained a mainstay of California wine-making up into the 1980s, when it saw a decline as competitors such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinto Noir began to take prominence. Since the mid-1990s however, it has been making a bit of a comeback.
Petite sirah produces an inky red wine, usually with a mid-level acidity, with herbal and black pepper notes. This is no doubt why it is often blended with Zinfandel, and no doubt why the fellows who run Ravenswood, the well-known Sonoma producer of so many Zinfandels, have recently released a petite sirah of their own. Blended by Ravenswood’s long-time negociant, Joel Peterson, from grapes from a variety of vineyards, the 2006 Vintners Blend Petite Sirah is deep and rich, with just enough concentrated black fruit to make it a good wine with red meat dishes without it being overbearing if just sipping alone. In all I’d like to see a little more structure here, but for the price it’s pretty hard to beat.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:18 pm
[...] A little while back the Ravenswood folks sent along a sample of their 2006 Vintner’s Blend Petite Syrah. Petite Syrah, being one of those quirky Californians with an interesting back story, we gave this wine our full attention an awarded it a “brisk” of spades (three to be precise). Admittedly, the 2006 Vintner’s Blend Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay – which Ravenswood sent along for us to try in Janurary – are less up our alley than the Petite Syrah, but are nevertheless an excellent value for the two-Benjamin price. (That is, they are excellent recession wines.) Here are the deets: [...]
April 15th, 2009 at 12:39 am
[...] A little while back the Ravenswood folks sent along a sample of their 2006 Vintner’s Blend Petite Syrah. Petite Syrah, being one of those quirky Californians with an interesting back story, we gave this wine our full attention an awarded it a “brisk” of spades (three to be precise). Admittedly, the 2006 Vintner’s Blend Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay – which Ravenswood sent along for us to try in Janurary – are less up our alley than the Petite Syrah, but are nevertheless an excellent value for the two-Benjamin price. (That is, they are excellent recession wines.) Here are the deets: [...]