TN: 2015 Dirty and Rowdy Petite Sirah Fred & Dora's Vineyard

2015 Dirty and Rowdy Petite Sirah Fred & Dora’s Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County (12/29/2018)
If you drink a lot of Petite Sirah, this comes across as well mannered. It’s still a little wild, but it does not overwhelm the senses. Ripe plum fruit forms the core, and is backed up by bramble and herbal aromas and a note of pine needle. It shows more of the rustic, wild side on the palate, with chalky tannins. The plum fruit picked up some ripe blackberry notes that hold center stage, keeping the tannins at bay. This is a notably powerful wine for Dirty & Rowdy, but again, within the genre, it’s on the “elegant” end of the scale.

Posted from CellarTracker

If served to you double blind, what would your guess have been?

I think the tannins would have sent me to Petite Sirah, but who knows.

Nice note David, I have not had the 2015 version but a 2014 D&R Petite Sirah Fred & Dora’s Vineyard we had in July had similar descriptors. Certainly the rustic wild side of Petite. The 2014 was 11.9%!!, what was the 15. Here is my note from July.

"Wanted to give this plenty of time to open and develop so decanted for nearly 3 hours. Nose was dark plum, blueberry, earth and subtle spice notes. The flavors were red raspberry, ripe blueberry, more earth and dirt with a touch of black pepper - sage. This wine has a good dose of mouthwatering acidity and there are some tannins in the finish but they are gentle and ripe (sweet).

It’s pretty amazing that a petite at 11.9% alc. could pack this much flavor. The structure from the acidity in this wine makes it far more versatile with food than most petite sirah. While we enjoyed it with short ribs it could match up well with some pork and chicken dishes, even red sauce Italian. If you don’t like Petite Sirah cuz it’s boring, monolithic etc, this will likely change your mind .

If you have any there is no rush to open but if you do, give this plenty of air time."

Tom

The 2015 is 13.9% ABV. It’s huge for D&R, but the alcohol did not show.

I gave this bottle about six hours of air prior to drinking it.

The 2014 is buried in the cellar…somewhere.

David,
Thanks for the note. The '15 comes across as the most polished of our Fred & Dora’s. There was a difference in '15 winemaking that is part of this.

Across the board, for us, and many others in N. CA, '15 was a very structured year. I love the vintage and it is more firm than giving. Fred & Dora’s is regularly the most structured of all our wines and a few days into primary fermentation, it seemed impenetrable.

Our PS and Mourvèdre wines have always been 100% whole cluster and pressed off at the end of primary fermentation. With the '15 Fred’s, we had already passed the point of no return with being able to press it off early (as it was already super tannic a few days in), so I made the decision to let the wine go through about 30 days of extended maceration to change the profile of the tannins. This greatly smoothed out some sharp edges while also making the aromatics a bit more classic and refined vs. our traditional wilder side.

I think Fred & Dora’s shows the most interesting vintage variation of all of our wines. It is an exciting and challenging site and it is so small that we don’t have a lot of options.

2014 is very lean and deep. It is just starting to shine. It carries incredible depth for the 11.9% ABV. It needs a lengthy decant and should still have another decade or so ahead of it.

2015 is as you’ve noted above. Powerful and elegant.

2016 at this point is the most balanced of the lot. The vintage was more giving, open, and I think it hits a nice spot between the '14 and '15.

2017 (declassified w/ most of the other '17s)

2018 is one of my fav. wines of the vintage. It tastes almost like a L’anglore version of Petite Sirah - Bright, ridiculous aromatics, mineral, ripe (in flavors), deep, and I think it should drink well early in its life and beyond. In contrast to the '15’s extended maceration, this was pressed around 2/3 of the way through primary fermentation. Its lighter frame didn’t need anything more than that. At 12.25% and closer to the '14’s abv but with the openness of '18 (which is a trait I see in almost all our '18 wines).