Another goodie. I bought this a few months ago through Last Bottle, was attracted by the combination of price ($16) and especially bottle age.
Color is virtually black and almost opaque to the rim. Classic for the varietal. The aromas feature black fruits, black pepper and a touch of fading rose. There are abundant tannins (duhhh) on the entry, but they resolve quickly into something dense, almost heavy, but still lively in texture. The fruit is there along with Zinfandel-like briar, but without the high alcohol. So the sumo wrestler can dance the katazka, not really well, but still a wonder and a pleasure to behold. The finish is moderately long. If this is never going to win a Gold Medal for subtlety, it’s still a fine hearty glass of uncomplicated pleasure on a cool main evening with ground lamb patties. Rated 89, up to two points of improvement likely over the next five years.
If Lava Cap, I used to buy them. They don’t get any better with ten or even fifteen years. My personal op is that it is mostly a matter of clones. Get the right ones and a Napa pet has a decent chance of being a wine that evolves a bit with age. 96.3% of the pet vineyards just don’t have the better clones. They are the dullards of the wine world. Maybe the oafs or dufuses.
Sooo do you know which wineries use the “better clones”? Or are these like our “better angels”, who sometimes show up strongly or disappear when threatened?
Dan-I am brutish at making people look bad, one of my many shortcomings. I rather boorishly corrected Tom Hill about Benito Dusi having passed when I should have just shot him a PM rather than embarrass him publicly. Tom-if you read this please forgive me.
Markus-I would say that Thackrey’s Rossi vineyard qualifies as does Pallisades, Rockland’s estate vineyard (I may be wrong about Rockland sourcing their own pet) and Stags’ Leap (aka “jumping stag”) qualify.
Your question didn’t make me look bad and I have zero problem with it. I made ME look bad! Not that it was hard .
If ya wanna talk ‘brutish’, just look at my posts in the Asylum.
Sorry to say, I obviously know nothing about this producer, only that the wine showed up on Last Bottle:
Petite Sirah
2014 vintage
Napa Valley
$16
It’s always a crap shoot, wish I’d gone in for at least 3, better even 6, but this was a singleton. If they are a real winery, still in business, still producing Petite Sirah at a reasonable price, I would be happy to revisit. Will look over the weekend.
I drink wine most days. I love the stuff, besides making a living from it. I want to try as many as possible. So lots and lots of singletons, sometimes I regret spending $10, sometimes I wish I had bought a case of that unknown $30 bottle.
I don’t know where their vineyard is, age, or anything about it. I do know that the wine was really good. I looked on line and it is part of Von Strasser. On their website, the current offering is 2015 and vineyard-designated from a Suisun Valley vineyard. But it’s $45. Regretful pass. I guess the Last Bottle sale may have been part of the changeover to Von Strasser, clearing the decks for new projects and wines.
I’ve been a Petite Sirah fan forever, have posted before on buying a case of half-gallons of Foppiano and laying it down for 10 years with great results.
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