2011 Ridge Petite Sirah Lytton Estate- USA, California, Sonoma County, Dry Creek Valley (10/6/2013)
Shockingly forward and approachable. This is about the frindliest (in a slobbering puppy sort of way) Petite Sirah I have ever had. There’s some tannin in the background, but barely enough for structure. Frankly it’s just weird to drink a Ridge Petite Sirah that is this simple/fruity.
If this is the direction that the team is going to take with their renditions of this variety then I am done.
Done with Ridge Petite, done with Ridge, done with Ridge ATP? Not sure I care, but you’re pretty vague. FWIW, the Lytton sourced Pet has always been fairly forward and lush. It’s the mountain pet from the likes of Park Muscatine, Dynamite Hill, York Creek, et al (Where’s Tom Hill?) that make for the bruiser pets. Also FWIW, an argument could me made that the payoff in terms of pleasure per dollar is higher with the valley fruit. Far too many of the mountain based Ridge pets never do come around to being much more than intellectual exercises. I know-I have tons of them in my cellar dating back to the early 70s. Park Muscatine is gone (Randy Dunn) and York Creek is gone (Fritz Maytag selling to someone else-Delectus?). See this for a primer; Gang of Pour - Ridgestock 2002 - Fritz Maytag
David,
The Ridge LyttonEstate PS has never particularly impressed me…certainly not of the stature of the YorkCreek PS’s. They’ve just
released the '07 PS DynamiteHill/YorkCreek…but only to ATP members. I think they still have about 1-2 vintages unreleased of
the YC PS. Then…tttthaaaaat’s all for now, folks…in my best WoodyWoopecker stutter.
I don’t think it (the '11) represents any real change in winemaking philosophy at Ridge. I do think Paul is giving both John & Eric
a bit more freedom in their winemaking decisions, so we may/may not see some evolving differences…but not likely much.
We have this '11 in my tableau of new Ridges this Wed night…so will no a bit more of my take then.
Tom
Old Ridge York Creek (like 15+ years) will forever be my benchmark for Petite Sirah. Loved the stuff. Polished off my last bottle (early 90s vintage) a few years ago. Too many mouth-staining, boxing gloved, high-octane cocktail punches have scared me away from the variety.
Hey Mitch (or should I say FSonicSmith) – been a long time since I’ve seen your name – thanks for chiming in and hope all is well. I’ve still got a 1990 Ridge York Creek PS sitting around, probably the oldest bottle in my cellar, and I’m reluctant to open it because whenever I do I’m bound to think “maybe if I left it another 5 years it would have turned into something…”
Hey Rowen. I was thinking the same thing when I saw your name. How you been? As to the '90, if you happen to have a good bottle, it is likely at peak and if you don’t, holding onto it won’t help. You will need an ah-so to prong that cork out-Ridge corks have a tendency to crumble after 20 years if you use a corkscrew. Good luck!
Great note as always. It prompted me to look up the notes from the label on the Ridge site:
This wine comes from a block of vines on a rocky knoll at Lytton Springs West. As grape varietals go, petite sirah is not hard to understand. It’s King Kong. The trick, therefore, once it’s harvested and in the winery, is to find its softer side and coax out some of the light-hearted elements that lurk within. In 2011, we think we achieved just that. After a whole berry, natural yeast fermentation, the wine was aged for fourteen months in american oak. Floral, peppery, and enjoyable now, this limited release will be best over the next ten years. JO (12/12)
I would have to say that based on your note, regardless of how you feel about it, this counts as “mission accomplished”.
As to whether this constitutes a change in direction for the Lytton Springs Petite Sirah, I happen to have the '09 on hand (though I haven’t opened it yet). Here’s what they have to say on that label:
This is our first national release of the Lytton Estate Petite Sirah. In 1997, we planted an unmixed block which, as it matured, produced wines of outstanding quality. Grapes form this rocky east-facing slope are deep-colored and intense. Hand picked in early October, they were de-stemmed, but left uncrushed, to ferment on their natural yeasts as whole berries. Once daily pump-overs controlled tannin extraction; the wine was pressed in nine days, when dry. After malolactic, it was racked to air-dried American oak for fifteen months of aging. This hundred-percent varietal wine shows the structure, balance, and complexity that can be achieved when soil and varietal are perfectly matched. It will soften and evolve over the next ten years.
Remember, Geyserville especially, and Lytton Springs can be obnoxious slobbering puppies on release. I recall reading just that about the '11 Geyserville. We know those age well, as Ridge wines do… But really, I wouldn’t open any Ridge wine that young. I know they’ll all get better. To me, when the bottle says “It will soften and evolve over the next ten years,” it means that the drinking window opens in 10 years.
Have had a chance to try this wine on a few occasions, albeit just small samples, and have enjoyed it each time. I’m of the opinion that Petite can be approachable at a young age but can still continue to transform for quite some time.
The old concept that you had to lay down petites for ten + years before they are approachable is simply not at play as much now as it was in the past. Surprise - either is laying down many other varieties (note the tasting notes on recently release Bordeaux, Burg, etc).
People are understanding, as Ridge says, how to ‘tame’ the monster, but that does NOT mean to make it a ‘simpler’ wine - just a ‘more approachable’ one . . .
Interesting take Larry. No doubt you were addressing a different topic and I defer to your winemaking expertise (and one of these days I look forward to visiting you if you will have me!), but I will nevertheless comment that the industry has known for a while now how to make a more approachable pet (first Foppiano, then Bogle at the low end, Turley and Thackrey at the high) through vineyard location, management, picking, and the all-important clonal selection (e.g. I understand that Foppiano’s clones are quite different from those of most). But the question remains (I think), what kind of style allows for the occasional ethereal bottle, like the fabled '71 and '75 Freemark and the '70 and '85 Ridge York Creeks? Could that ever happen with a fruit forward style?
Great question - and my answer would be ABSOLUTELY!!! I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. I think it will come down to a number of things ‘aligning’, starting with mother nature. For all of its qualities as a ‘brute’, PS is actually a pretty temperamental variety that is usually very late ripening and quite prone to bunch rot (or mold) because of its usually tight cluster formation.
I also think it may come down to cellar management as well - there’s been such a strong push toward pressing slightly sweeter to avoid ‘excess’ tannin extraction at the end of harvest and the use of lots of American oak to add a smoother ‘creamy vanilla and coconut’ quality to these wines that may work against what you are talking about.
Anyone know if Ridge has always used American oak on their PS’s? Tom Hill?
Yup…Ridge has pretty much always used Am.oak on everything. Paul read a study they did in Bdx way back when on the various oaks
they tried and the favorite of those Bdx guys was American oak. Of course, Ridge’s Am.oak is not just barrels from Am.oak trees, but
quality Am.oak, coopered w/ French techniques.
As for Mitch’s question of fruit-forward vs. ageble PS: The Ridge '71 YorkCreek is a good example. I…what is it they say out there
on the InterNet?? … I “followed it from the very start”. The thing, when young, was…how do they say it in Monktown…loaded w/ “gobs of hedonistic fruit”.
It was absolutely delicious to drink from the get-go. Alas…too many of them got drunk up young. But it had an underlying structure & tannins that you
just knew it would age well. The FreemarkAbbey '71 as well. Others back in that era as well were the CarnerosCreek & MtVeeder PS '75, from
the Marston vnyd. Of the current ones, I think the Jaffurs and the JacobFranklins and the Carlisles will stand the test of time. They all have an underlying structure
that I think will take them out there…but maybe not as long as those two '71’s. Times change.
Tom
Thanks for chiming in and for the info. Great to hear the perspective on that ‘legendary’ '71. If that were today, folks would be drinking it up immediately. Any idea on what Paul thought the ‘drinking’ window would be? Did he or anyone else have any idea that the think would age as gracefully as it did? Sometimes it just happens - and that’s one of the things I LOVE about our industry - patience truly is a virtue and you are often rewarded in spades, even when you did not think you would be . . .
As far as American oak goes, my guess is that these are coopered and toasted in a more ‘elegant’ manner than much of the American oak that is used today. Most now seemed to be used for ‘maximum effect’ - you BETTER taste that vanilla and coconut or we didn’t spend our money wisely!!! (-: