Same fruit, same vineyard, same vintage conpletely different beasts. I opened and followed the Mending Wall last night and tonight it’s the O&F (actually both side-by-side now). My takeaway is that the Mending Wall is much more approachable at this stage and the Once and Future will excel with patience. Tasting these it’s like a PS made by a Cabernet Sauvignon winemaker vs a PS made by a Zinfandel winemaker right down to barrel treatment. Well dang, what do you know. Seriously though, blind these side-by-side and I’ll guarantee you find that to ring true for yourself as well. Not a hint of heat on either. Enjoy!
Man this pours dark. Perhaps the blackest wine I have ever opened. With that said it’s not the big massve behemoth it could be considering the intense color. Blackberry and plum stain the glass, the depth is immeasurable but the structure is far from OTT. The purity of the fruit is on the forefront, layered with cocoa and coffee grounds. Chewy pondering finish becoming a bit more chalky as it gets more air. I really dig this wine. Probably the most approachable young high end PS I have ever opened. May need to uncork a O&F for comparisons sake now. Well done!
Following the ‘14 Mending Wall Palisades PS. This wine comes across much differently. Lighter in color, more purple than black. Nose initially showing blackberry and boysenberry, fresh sweet smelling wth a hint of menthol. While the Mending Wall was round and deep this wine is angular with tart berries, wet stones and chalk. Edgy and raw. The finish is abrupt followed by a wall of gritty tannin. I like this but I’ll love it in 7-10yrs when it matures a bit.
I would love to see what the Once & Future “Palisades Vineyard” Petite Sirah does over the course of a few days.
For reference, I never finished the O&F “Oakley Road” Mataro that I popped in February. Every now and then I will uncork the bottle and give it a smell. It appears to remain completely the same as on the second night! Sexy wine!
I have 1/2 a bottle left under cork, we shall see. Dava preferred it to the Mending Wall, I thought she’d go the other way since it was kind raw still. Just shows you how little I actually understand my Wife.
Awesome Brian - love that you drank these side by side!
Palisades absolutely crushes these days when it comes to PS. From what I know (which isn’t much), these vines aren’t exactly 'old, isn’t that correct? I feel like Hayne vineyard used to be the undisputed PS vineyard champ, but for at least the past 5 to 8 years or so, Palisades has clearly taken over. Would love to hear others thoughts on that though, as there’s a good chance that i was just oblivious to the magic of the vineyard up until fairly recently.
That makes sense, thanks Kris. But haven’t most of the really old vine PS vineyards been dry farmed (Hayne, etc). How does the location of Palisades compare to other top PS vineyards? Gotta be a prime spot i would think.
And have I just had my head in the sand, or was really good Petite coming from the vineyard prior to 8 to 10 years ago?
Palisades Vineyard, Napa Valley, Petite Sirah
There’s a good reason that, until the 1960s, Petite sirah was the most widely planted grape variety in Napa Valley. As is shown by the few remaining examples, grown in the right places it does very well there, making lovely, evocative wine even darker and spicier than Zinfandel, that other “California grape” from Europe. If Napa had only had the guts to stick with Petite through the renaissance that transformed California wine, it would have been a more distinctive and interesting choice (not to mention better value) upon which to hang one’s regional hat than today’s dictatorial monarch, Cabernet Sauvignon.
The best evidence is tucked into a narrow riparian canyon just east of the town of Calistoga, at the foot of the magnificent Palisades cliffs. This is Petite sirah heaven: The cobbly loam soil of the alluvial fan is perfect for the variety, and hot summers, cool westerly morning breezes, extended sunlight and adequate winter rainfall bless the fruit with exceptional concentration and depth. Viticulture here dates back to 1878, when James Horn, a settler from Scotland, first planted grapes; in 1908, Domenico and Gilda Barberis, recent arrivals from Italy, planted more vines along Horn’s Creek. Seven years later, they established “Bonded Winery Number 118” at on the site.
Sadly, despite a capacity of more than 20,000 gallons, the winery didn’t survive Prohibition, closing down in 1932. The vineyard, however, survived. Continuing to farm it until 1992, Domenico and Gilda’s son Frank planted petite on St. George rootstock in 1968 and again in the mid-70s. In the 90s the property was bought by Felicia Woytak and her husband Steven Rasmussen, who thankfully had the soul and character (not unlike petite itself) to ignore the prevailing commercial formula, choosing to respect and preserve the site’s heritage. Committed to organic horticulture, they’ve retained Jim Munk to manage the place’s traditional dry farming and head-trained viticulture.
The Barberis would no doubt be pleased; I am overjoyed.
Best California PS in my opinion is coming from Santa Barbara County. Jaffurs nails it year in and year out. Drinkable young or old. $38 ish a bottle. Great stuff.
Perfect breakdown, thanks Mike! Feel like I vaguely remember that from the Once and Future release, but clearly didn’t remember it well enough. Thanks again for posting!
The O&F sat another 4 days on the counter under a cork and I poured the remaing 3 glasses last night. This picked up some heft over the course of the week and is really showing well. Still a touch tart but it’s becoming more fucused. Tannins tell me it’s still a lay me down wine which I will do with my remainders.
Tried the 2014 Once and Future Palisades for the second time a few nights ago. I drank this about a year ago and it was delicious but very young. Decanted this one six hours before trying and it was completely shut down, the wine in the glass smelled like it was ten feet away, almost no flavor at all. After ten hours in the decanter it was still the same. Poured the rest back in the bottle and tried two days later and only slightly more open. I would try these on release but after that definitely hold for a long time.
Back in March, our wine group did a similar thing with Once and Future and Carlisle '14 Palisades Petites. They were both excellent, albeit very young. We also had an '09 Carlisle Palisades for “perspective”. For my palate the '09 was several cuts above the '14’s at this point in their evolution.
I found the 14 Once & Future available for a silly good price so I popped one just to check in and am glad that I did. Surprisingly, this bottle was wide open with dusty blue fruits, a nice amount of acidity, and a long finish. Tannins, while definitely present, were not overwhelming. A very impressive and very tasty PS that should age well for a long time. Needless to say, I snagged some more.
Yeah man, I was very pleasantly surprised how well this bottle showed. Definite room for improvement…but easily the best Petite Sirah I’ve had in a long time (and I really like PS)
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Seriously though, blind these side-by-side and I’ll guarantee you find that to ring true for yourself as well. Not a hint of heat on either. Enjoy! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
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