Volume 34, Issue 9: July 2010 In a slow but continuing climb back to full grace in California, this year’s versions of Petite Sirah edge closer to what might be called “brawny accessibility”. It matters not that massively tannic Petite Sirah can age for a couple of decades or more (a thesis we will test one of these days with wine from our cellars going all the way back to the early 70s). What matters is that this muscular wine, when not littered with unmannerly astringency, has a center of fruit that cuts through its mass and muscle as a mealtime mate to sturdy hunks of savory beef, lamb and venison. With wines of that ilk on the increase, Petite Sirah is likely to continue to gain popularity.
Sort By [Vintage   ][Winery ] [Rating ][Price  ][Appellation ] Good Value Found 54 results. Displaying 1-30. 83 CONCANNON Petite Sirah Central Coast 2007 $10.00 From its odd, half-candied aromas to its undercurrent of souring acid, this cheap-tasting wine does little to please, and it is entirely lacking the strength, spice and dark fruit that, in the end, are the defining traits of Petite Sirah. 85 BOGLE Petite Sirah California 2007 $11.00 GOOD VALUE If you do not mind a little caramel heading to molasses in your medium-bodied Petite Sirah, and you are not one who requires mass and muscle as part of the deal, then this direct, easy-going effort will reward both your palate and your pocketbook. 85 BOGLE Petite Sirah California 2006 $11.00 GOOD VALUE You have to hand it to Bogle-three solid wines at their stated prices. This one is seemingly a bit stiffer than its 2007 mate above and less dense in its fruit, but it has clean, bright, direct character and decent balance, and if not Petite Sirah in the classic, brawny manner, it is a wholly useful wine for lighter red meat dishes. 84 CUPCAKE Petite Sirah Central Coast 2007 $14.00 If, on the one hand, this relatively firm, medium-full-bodied effort offers up a pleasant bit of raspberry-like fruit, it does not deliver expressive Petite Sirah character. It sits at the lighter end of the varietal spectrum with regard to tannin and shows an angular edge of tangy acidity as its fruit pulls up short at the finish. It may reward a few years of keeping, but it possesses very clear limits now or later. 83 CONCANNON Conservancy Petite Sirah Livermore Valley 2007 $14.00 Although its dusty, lightly spicy, loosely defined nose conveys a scant note of berries, this wine proves to be thin and withered at its heart, and its sere, acid-pushed tannins are never matched by nearly enough fruit to suggest that time will prove to be an ally in any meaningful way. 82 GUENOC Petite Sirah Lake County 2007 $15.00 If faintly herbal and hinting at blackberries in the nose, this sere, acid-edged wine is wholly without fruit out in the mouth, and its combination of mouth-drying tannin and wiry tartness makes for an unpleasant finish. 83 PEDRONCELLI Petite Sirah Dry Creek Valley 2006 $15.00 A bit tense and nervy on the nose with a sparse smattering of woody spice, this oddly hollow, decidedly crude customer lacks clear fruity direction right from the start and fails to find it as sere, tannin-induced dryness becomes its most lasting trait. 89 BOGLE Phantom Petite Sirah California 2006 $16.00 GOOD VALUE This Petite Sirah-based blend is fairly supple and nicely balanced on the palate with not a hair out of place. Its blackberryish fruit notes come with mildly spicy and minerally nuances, and its nice background lift from supportive oak helps out by bringing a spot of richness to the proceedings. Somewhat tannic but not overly so, this wine rates as a great buy now and a likeable wine both today and if given some three to five years to soften. 85 URSA Vineyard Blend Petite Sirah California 2006 $16.00 But for its slightly outsized tannins, this bottling says little about Petite Sirah. It smacks loosely of cherries and red berries and is trimmed with a spark of acidy brightness. A bit lighter in body than is the varietal norm, it gets a little too puckery for its own good at the finish. 86 ROSENBLUM Heritage Clones Petite Sirah California 2007 $18.00 GOOD VALUE Starting off well enough with plump, ripe, dried berry smells and adding in a nice touch of dried spice, this wine drifts away on the palate where its fruit comes up a bit on the short side to counter its wave of crashing latter-palate tannins. At the price, it is going to find plenty of takers who admire its no-holds-barred muscle. 82 SEVEN ARTISANS Clayton Road Ranches Petite Sirah Suisun Valley 2007 $18.00 If possessing all of the toughness and very high tannins of Petite Sirah, this brushy, vaguely earthy, chocolate-tinged offering has virtually no compensating fruit at its heart, and its harsh, out-of-bounds astringency makes a second sip all but impossible. 86 BERRYESSA GAP Reserve Petite Sirah Yolo County 2006 $18.00 It would be hard to argue that this wine is especially revealing of classic Petite, but its milder manner and accessible, slightly strawberry-like fruit are far from being liabilities. It slowly gives ground to back-palate tannins and gets a bit gritty and sere at the end, but its fruit never quite fades from view and has a fair chance of surviving the half-dozen or so years of cellaring that seems called for here. 81 LANGE TWINS Petite Sirah California 2008 $18.00 One of its Lodi-area neighbors has made a good go with this unusual blend, but the Lange Twins have not. The wine is odd in smell with a bit of cooked meat melded with wet wool and green spices in the nose and follows with wan, burnt wood flavors of little charm. 81 HERINGER Holland Landing Petite Sirah Clarksburg 2005 $21.00 Although its peculiar mix of dried herbs, old leather, earth and souring berries might be charitably called complex, this murky take on Petite is both too tart and too tannic, and it misses any reasonable varietal mark. 88 ROCK WALL Petite Sirah Dry Creek Valley 2007 $22.00 Better than its partner from Mendocino by dint of its increased fruit and slightly throttled-back tannins, this gutsy youngster sits securely on the varietal track. It ends with the taste of tea and black pepper even as a bit of acidity accentuates its astringency, but those with a penchant for Petite should find its toughness no more than par for the course. 84 URSA Naggiar Vineyards Petite Sirah Sierra Foothills 2006 $22.00 The softest and ripest of the four Ursa offerings, this bottling starts out with a solidly spicy Petite Sirah nose, but its comes up heavy and flat on the palate with nominal tannins and a bit of heat surpassing its fleeting fruit. 84 VICTOR HUGO Petite Sirah Paso Robles 2007 $22.00 Moderately fruit and sweetly oaked at first sniff, then revealing itself to be somewhat less than fully ripened in its fruit, this wine is medium-full in the mouth and somewhat stiff in texture. Initial flavors of blackberries give ground to green acidity by mid-palate and offer limited hope for the future. 87 TRINITAS Old Vine Petite Sirah Lodi 2006 $22.00 A bit of heavy-handedness shows up in this rich wine, but it has enough bacony, ripe blackberry, meaty character at its heart to overcome that minor distraction. It is, instead, full and supple at the front of the palate with a noticeable but not abrasive streak of expected astringency. It could use a few years of cellar aging but does not demand it. 87 URSA Shell Creek Vineyards Petite Sirah Paso Robles 2006 $22.00 While this bottling displays a clear bias to ripeness, neither its chocolaty leanings nor its sizeable tannins get in the way of its expression of well-defined, somewhat peppery, blackberry fruit. Fans of the grape will find its astringency forgivable and, in fact, very much to the varietal point, and those with less tolerance to Petite Sirah toughness should find it a useful partner to savory stews in but a few years. 91 MIRO Petite Sirah Dry Creek Valley; Sonoma County 2007 $23.00 GOOD VALUE Miro has done an altogether remarkable job here at bringing a sense of winemaking polish to Petite Sirah without sacrificing the fundamental strength and sturdiness that are the varietal's signature gifts. Leading with very deep, slow-to-unfold aromas of blackberries, pepper and clove, the wine is rich and invitingly fruity with expansive, long-lasting flavors that show a bare hint of chocolate to the same themes of berries and spice. It is not at all sparing in tannin, yet it is never overly tough, and it is by all standards a complete and compelling effort. 88 CLAYHOUSE Estate Petite Sirah Paso Robles 2006 $23.00 Ripe and slightly blousy in its aromas of blackberries with a tinge of a somewhat syrupy component, this full-bodied wine is noticeably more firmly and tightly structured on the palate even though its flavors do drift in the direction of high ripeness. Their berry-like focus is joined by a hint of tea leaf and by typical tannins that argue against near-term drinking. 87 BALLENTINE Fig Tree Vineyard Petite Sirah St. Helena; Napa Valley 2007 $24.00 Here is a solid, well-extracted look at Petite Sirah that stays within the varietal lines. It is fleshy, full-bodied and fairly tough, but it counts ripeness and a fair bit of fruit in its favor. It holds onto fruit throughout and tastes of dark berries from front to back, and, if its tannins are elevated, they are still appropriate for the grape. 85 J. RICKARDS Brown Barn Vineyard Petite Sirah Alexander Valley 2007 $24.00 Despite a bit of help from its complement of slightly sweet oak, this chunky, not-quite-filled wine wants a little more fruit with which to buffer its hard-to-ignore tannins. It has solid varietal credentials but winds up tough and a little washed out at the end, and we do not see how aging alone will fill in its too many spaces. 87 HERINGER Heringer Vineyards Petite Sirah Clarksburg 2006 $25.00 Far and away the preferred of the Heringer bottlings, this hefty, well-ripened wine is very much fixed on the peppery, blackberry traits of Petite Sirah and has the fruity substance to effectively buffer its undisguised tannins. Gruff now and likely to be later as well, it will take well to aging and should develop for another five to ten years. 86 ARTEZIN Petite Sirah Mendocino County 2007 $25.00 A bit longer on the lightly dusty, somewhat peppery spice of the grape than it is on evident fruit, this tough, tannin-framed working nevertheless flirts here and there with suggestions of dark berries, and its astringency is still within varietal bounds. It will benefit from a half-dozen years of age and is the kind of wine that will want pairing with savory, marinated lamb. 84 CANIS MAJOR Petite Sirah Dry Creek Valley 2007 $25.00 To its credit, this very dense and highly ripened Petite Sirah is wholly on point with respect to varietal sinew and strength, but it is undermined by a marked streak of sourness, and its combination of stiffening acids and hard-edged tannins leaves it well short of success. 88 ROSENBLUM Pato Vineyard Petite Sirah Contra Costa County 2007 $25.00 With intimations of game and roasted beef in its aromatic mix, this fully weighted, rich, chocolate-tinged bottling finds sufficient stores of expressive fruit at its heart to hold off the on-rushing tannins that stagger it in the finish. The wine's ability to hang on gamely at the end earns it kudos. 91 VINA ROBLES Jardine Petite Sirah Paso Robles 2007 $26.00 Let us start by saying that this is most definitely not a wine for the faint of heart, but then Petite Sirah is rarely chosen for its delicacy. This one is a big, expressive, fully-ripened version that seems sure to scare off those cannot abide high-alcohol reds, but the rest of us will find plenty to like in its deep, genuinely juicy blackberry fruit. It does not wander into chocolaty excess and is surprisingly well-balanced for the sizeable wine that it is, and, while it has a full complement of varietal tannin, it is no tougher than young Petite should be. Look for five to ten years of certain improvement. 88 SUMMERS Petite Sirah Napa Valley 2007 $28.00 What we like about this bottling is its uncommon brightness and juicy, ripe-berry fruit, and its ample infusion of sweet oak spice only adds to its immediate appeal. It starts out on a comparatively supple note, then quickly toughens and runs into a fair share of varietal tannins, yet it keeps a very valuable grasp on defined fruit right to the end. It will serve handily with hearty stews three or four years hence, but further unfolding assuredly awaits those with more patience. 85 ROCK WALL Petite Sirah Mendocino County 2007 $28.00 Very ripe in the nose with glimmers of raisins set against sweet oak, dried flowers and a wisp of dried spice, this uneven wine is both tart and very astringent, and its colliding acids and tannins make things so coarse at the finish that it might still be tough after a generation has passed.
Tasting Note View
 
+Rating System
 THREE STARS:(95-98 points) An exceptional wine. Worth a special search of the market.
 TWO STARS:(91-94 points) A highly distinctive wine. Likely to be memorable.
 ONE STAR:(87-90 points) Fine example of a type or style of wine. Without notable flaws.
Note: Wines not marked with stars are often delightful wines. Each has unique virtues and any of these wines may be the best wine to serve your needs based on value, availability or for your dining and taste preferences.
95-98 3 Stars
91-94 2 Stars
87-90 1 Star
80-86 Wines of varying quality and value. See tasting notes for details.
70-79 Flawed wines to be avoided.
+Ageworthiness
 Drinkable now. Unlikely to improve with further aging.
 Drinkable now. Further bottle aging can improve this wine.
 Cellar for future drinking. Wine will improve with bottle aging.
 Not suitable for drinking.
+Food & Wine Pairings
 Soft and fruity wine Quaffable by itself or with light foods.
 Crisp white. Medium acid and dry. Fish or delicate flavored foods.
 Mellow white. Dry to slightly sweet. Enough acid for white meats.
 Full and balanced dry white. Try with rich seafood and fowl dishes.
 Light Red and powerhouse White. Fowl, veal and light meats.
 Medium Red. Balanced, good depth, medium tannin. Beef and lamb.
 Robust Red. Full tannin, intense flavors. For highly spiced meat dishes.
 Sweet Dessert wine. Enjoyable by itself or with sweet desserts.
+Availability
 Generally available in most markets.
 Limited production and/or limited geographic distribution.
 Very limited availability.
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