Want tannins in your PS? Try Switchback Ridge, Foley, Scholium even Stags Leap. Just don’t expect them to blossom at 1yr from release.
There may be an element of personal taste preference, Alan. I do not actively seek out the variety, but I am also putting together a PS table for my next WineFest in 2020. In the meantime, some notes, the first two from my California trip in May 2015, the last from FallTacular in Feb 2015
2014 Carlisle Palisades Petite Sirah in barrel
Can’t remember if Mike served this out of neutral or new, might’ve been new. 50 years dry farmed. This has a “length” on the nose that many P.S. wines do not, chocolate fruit torte, a lot of blue plum, I do find light shake of pepper lurking. Again, even at this early stage, a roundness of tannins, expanding at the back of the throat. Excellent food wine, very flavourful with delicious milk chocolate finishing things off.
2010 Cantiga Wineworks estate Petite Sirah
Scents of delicious chocolate/black forest cake. Oh my—this is melt-in-your-mouth so darned good. Strawberry shortcake meets chocolate ganache and smooth as baby’s bottom I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a P.S. remotely close to this style. Even more intriguing, a kalamata olive dip jumps up the freshness and acidity. Pressed to score, I’d have to be thinking close to 92. Really wonderful wine.
2012 Switchback Ridge Peterson Family Petite Syrah
Tarry for sure, black pepper deluxe, dark chocolate nuzzie. Palate is super-rich, super sweet and super-big. Um, yeah. 16.5%. Plum and a framing of licorice, I think. This will probably last forever.
PS is definitely not Grenache, a variety I am quite unfond of.
Maluhia,
Mike
Best young PS I have had recently has to be Scholium Project 2009 Babylon. Ready to go already.
I find Petite Sirah to be very tannic, which is why I don’t generally go for it. I also don’t think it compares very well to Syrah. I’d put it in between a Cabernet Sauv and a Merlot, if I had to compare it to something.
I am a big fan of Renquist “R” PS- recently had a 2010 and the wine was delicious with no doubt copious fruit, and the acidity was here.
Always liked this wine when I lived in The Foothills.
Is this a troll or just ignorance?
I would agree with your Carlisle tasting notes, ive mentioned before and its been discussed here that i hate the milk chocolate thing going on, i just dont understand why people like chocolate aromas and tastes in wine
Have you ever had someone wave at you from across the bar and you don’t really recognize them but you wave anyway only to find out they were waving at somebody behind you. That just happened to me on this thread. I love PS but I couldn’t imagine how anybody here would know that.
For what it’s worth, I’ve had very structured and backwards Petites and ones that were fat, overly sweet, and lacking backbone so it can be a minefield out there. I think it’s a varietal that’s worth digging but that’s just me.
Yes
This +100
There is no doubt that there are numerous ‘boring’ examples of this variety on the market, and there has been for quite some time. It has typically been considered a ‘blending grape’, adding color and structure to zins and other varieties for a long time.
It tends to ripen quite late every harvest, meaning that it tends to produce wines with higher alcohol levels than many others. It’s often planted in areas where it struggles to get the late harvest heat it needs, leading to wines of structure but not much else. And because it’s late ripening and has very tight clusters, and late harvest moisture leads to vast amounts of bunch rot.
All of that said, there are plenty of great examples of the variety that provide lots of pleasure to those who seek them out. Does it make a really interesting wine when young? Well, I’ve had some examples, such as Jaffurs and even some recent Ridge offerings, that definitely show well young, but most need time.
Does every PS turn into something beautiful over time? Of course not - but neither does any variety. Some do, some don’t . . .
Cheers.
I am willing to push my chips into the middle betting Once & Future PS will be anything but boring.
I had a 2007 Thackrey Orion over the Fourth that was singing, as most of his do.
Love this wine too. Always wonder how much is PS and how much other varieties, vintage by vintage.
I think the general consensus is that the OP has never had PS with some age on it - that’s the magic recipe, right there. Try it. Heck, if I had more PS (I have only 3 bottles, all too young) I’d donate a bottle. Fortunately it’s cheap, particularly the ‘older’ bottles. Aim for 2006, 2007, 2008 ish
Always an interesting question. Depends who you talk to.
2009 Turley Hayne i think is the oldest ive had
Oh, you sweet summer child. 
I don’t drink it much (mostly Syrah) but its nice to have every so often and it can be really good.
I think PS is hard to really hard to screw up, never had to pour out a bottle.
Most PS I have had comes from Paso:
Aaron Jackson
Proulx
Vina Robles ($16 at Costco)
J Lohr Tower Road
Turley seems popular, went to their tasting room once, I think Aaron is the best PS I have had, really neat tasting room he opened recently.
