TN: 1970 Robert Mondavi Napa Petite Sirah

WINE TALK
1

1970 Robert Mondavi Napa Petite Sirah, 12% alc.: Slightly cloudy, almost inky dark garnet color, and little rust as of yet; lovely aromatics of sweet spices and red and black berries carry over onto the palate with some earth underneath it all. Perfectly balanced, with fully resolved tannins. Not quite up to the 71 Ridge and Freemark Abbey York Creek Petty Sarahs that we so enjoyed at Ridgestock in '02, but pretty darned close. Many thanks to our friend Jim Brennan for opening this beauty from his birthday year.

- from More Wines with Friends

Reporting from Day-twah,

geo t.

2

Thanks for the note George. I love seeing the old school Cali wines showing up strong with so many years on them. Now if we could only get more wineries making wines in the style.
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3

Nice note. I have not had a Mondavi PS.

4

I wish I had more… it was surprisingly good!

If only more wineries hadn’t yanked so many vines like this because [insert grape variety here] was more fashionable.

5

Might I ask how long you had it open? After a few hours, I bet it improved…

My limited experience with aged PS from California showed great improvement when the ‘old funk’ blew off after an hour or two.

6

I am always pleasently suprised with older Cali Petit Syrah. I have not had a lot of experiences with them, but I specifiaclly rember some old Geyser Peak showing well.

7

Not really funky at all… a bit of earthiness, but nothing most drinkers would get put off by. It was probably opened and finished-off within 2 hours.