2008 Concannon Petite Sirah (what are conservatory vines?)

WINE TALK
1

I picked this up for a very reasonable price at a supermarket wine sale so just popped and poured it last night at a meal of vegetable soup, delicatessen meats, and cheese.

At 13.5° this was not a bruiser and had some good black fruit flavors and a surprisingly long aftertaste.
A perfect week-day wine when you don’t want anything fancy or to spend a fortune.

I’m not very familiar at all with Petite Sirah. My wife tasted it blind and asked if it was a Syrah. I said “you’re close, Dear”, and congratulated her. Wiki tells me that Durif is a cross between Syrah and Peloursin (not that I’ve ever come across the latter - has anyone else?).

The back label says that Concannon introduced this variety to California. It reads “Our conservatory vines help protect California vineyard land from urban develpment”. Does that simply mean that the vineyard is zoned so that it can’t be transformed into tract houses?

Best regards,
Alex R.

2

Hi Alex,

If you don’t know what the hell they’re up to in California, how should I? :wink:
Anyway, IMark Squires once poured me a glass of Turley PS, but I was under the initial impression that it was blackberry preserve! Dourif isn’t grown in France all that much any more, but I hear it’s big in Algeria. I’m not inclined to seek it out though.

3

From the winery web site:

Conservancy:
This selection consists of five wines from the Livermore Valley. Protecting precious Livermore Valley vineyard land from urban development, local winegrowers have placed their land into a conservation trust that preserves it for future generations.

4

Hi Mike, thanks for the input and thanks to you David for the explanation.

Alex

5

This conservancy was formed by cutting a deal with the developers of the Ruby Hill neighborhood. There was a fee assessed of something like $30K/lot (these are multi-million dollar homes) which formed an endowment which is used to buy and protect the remaining open space which is mostly vineyard land.

There’s nothing particularly special about the conservancy vineyards, except that they should eventually become old vines, rather than be developed into housing.

There’s more info here:
http://www.trivalleyconservancy.org/history.html
…and you can also buy a calendar there which features some photography by yours truly [snort.gif]

6

mmmm, Concannon PS. The first wine I cut my teeth on–so to speak. :slight_smile:

PS clusters are small berries in tightly packed clusters and would do well anywhere with a rainy growing season.

7

I’ve seen their “Conservatory” wines. Immediately assumed it was a marketing technique akin to Chrysler’s “rich Corinthian leather” for those of us old enough to remember.