I love me a great aged petite sirah, and I especially love it when it’s from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and also happens to be my birth-year. It’s always a crap-shoot opening ‘older’ (keep in mind this is my birthyear) wines, but the color through the bottle looked excellent, and I’ve had great luck with this classic producer over the years. Top of the cork is flawless (even better sign) and for a split second I consider not using my Durand……but then I kick myself in the ass for even thinking something like that, and extract it effortlessly using the ONLY tool that one who opens ‘older’ wines should ever use, and am excited to find it has literally zero seepage. After 15 minutes of air, this is lovely on the nose with cinnamon, and spicy cranberries, and even better on the palate. It started with notes of blood/iron, and then fleshed out to tart red fruit, baking spice, and a hint of tannin on the finish. It’s medium bodied with loads of acidity, which is creating a really nice mouth-feel and making it VERY easy to drink, but there’s more than enough complexity to keep you engaged/focused. Oh….and it’s 12.8% abv. Yeah. Mic-drop.
Beautiful looking wine, glad it delivered!
Great notes, and a fan of the bottle. Thinking about it, I rarely have had aged Petite Sirah. Something I may need to remedy somehow.
Haha, I knew this would be you! Very cool, love this post.
Thanks bud! Cheers!
Thanks! And they dont always deliver…but im a fan of older PS when they’re on. And luckily this one did tonight 
Ha ha! Who else would be lame enough to post on a 44 year old North Coast Petite Sirah! At least its a classic producer i guess, ha!
Only you, my friend, truly only you…
I edited ‘stupid’ to ‘lame’. Gotta give myself a little credit, you know 
I love well aged Petite Sirah. One of my favorites.
Me! LOVE it Rich! Old PS are some of the best wines…ever! Agree on always using the Durand, especially for old Cali’s. 
I thought lame fools drank PS less than 40 years old.
Ha! Glad im not the only lame one around here
You’d of dug this for sure! And you’re spot on with the Durand. There’s just no need to mess around. Ive tried to get cute with an old cork too many times and it never ends well
Fantastic Rich!
I wonder when Stags Leap transitioned from North Coast to Napa for the Petite?
Thanks Robert!
And that’s a great question! I had the 91 a little while back and it was ‘napa’…so sometime between then i guess
Once again you have hit the aged wine jackpot… You don’t miss… Cheers @Rich_Brown
Ha! There’s definitely plenty of misses, but its nice when they work out like this one did. I still can’t get over how well that cork held up. Ive seen newly released bottles in worse shape, ha!
Drooling a little… Lovely bottle.
How did the wine evolve after opening?
Great question! I saved a glass for day 2 and actually liked it a little more. The fruit seemed to flesh out a bit more and the whole wine felt a bit more integrated. Fun wine for sure!