VARIETAL & VINEYARD:  This wine is 100% Petite Sirah from a two acre block located on our Winery property.  Planted in 1998, these vines are cordon trained using a vertical trellis to expose the fruit to sunlight.  We routinely crop thin in order to improve flavor concentration, and to avoid bunch rot, a problem with this tight clustered varietal.

VINTAGE:  The 2004 vintage was tricky for most of our varieties, it was excellent for Petite Sirah. An early bud-break, combined with a very sunny August and early September caused severe de-hydration of most of our grapes, it benefited the Petite Sirah by fully ripening the fruit.  Our Petite Sirah has the dubious distinction of growing a heavy canopy, causing us to pass through the vineyard to remove excess leaves and fruit to expose the remaining bunches.  In 2004, this canopy helped protect the bunches from over-exposure, thus we had fewer dried bunches with Petite than any other variety.  The prolonged sunlight did result in fully ripe fruit that was void of some of the green tannins we can experience with this vineyard.  We harvested the Petite October 1st at a near perfect 25.2˚ brix.  

VINIFICATION:  The grapes were cold soaked for five days in a stainless steel tank before fermentation began.  We pump-over the wine, twice daily, during fermentation.  We aged our Petite Sirah in 60% French oak barrels and 40% 4-year-old American oak barrels, for 13 months.  During the first few months of barrel aging, we routinely stir the lees to enhance the wine’s texture.  About 20% of the French oak barrels were new.  This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

STYLE/DESCRIPTION:  This is where I normally make several jokes about Petite Sirah’s hearty nature by suggesting that only carnivores with primal tendencies drink the stuff.  While this inky wine will undoubtedly leave its mark on your teeth, it is much more complex and intensely fruity than the average Petite Sirah beast.  Deep aromas of blackberry, cassis, pepper and toasty oak emerge from the glass if you give it some air.  This full bodied “rocker” should age nicely over the next 4 to 6 years.

Mick

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