More Bday shenanigans with a fun side/side of two 1980 Ridge Petite Sirah’s - York Creek and Devil’s Hill (which is also located in York Creek).
They are both similar in color - deep/dark reddish black but more bricking on the DH while the YC is incredibly young looking in the glass. Beautiful.
You’d never know either of these were 44 years young (kinda like someone else i know )
In the mouth:
The York Creek is full of smokey black cherries, plums, hints of Earth and leaves, and waves of acidity on the still slightly tannic finish. Absolutley outstanding and miles to go!
Devils hill has sweeter red and black fruits, leather, and a touch of Carmel. less acidity but still plenty there. Still a delicious wine that would have been a real treat on its own.
That said, with these two bottles, i give the nod to the YC which was a sensational wine and possibly even better on day 2. But to be fair, the DH was noticeably more oxidized than the YC, so not exactly a ‘fair fight’. Luckily i have another bottle of each so maybe we’ll do another Birthday comparison down the road
Ha ha! Honestly i went back/forth on it. Have never opened two at once before so this was the first time that I was faced with the predicament. Ultimately went with the apostrophe but certainly could be convinced otherwise
On the fate of the York Creek PS… As we used to say when I was a journalist, “You could have looked it up.”
According to the Ridge website, it was produced in every vintage from 1971 to 2016. Maybe it was limited to the ATP program at some point so it stopped appearing on retail shelves.
History
In 1968, Fritz Maytag purchased the Herbert Hummel ranch on Spring Mountain, west of St. Helena in Napa Valley. This beautiful property rises from 1250′ to over 2000′ elevation, and its climate is cooler than that of the valley below. Most of the land is forested and wild—the watershed of its namesake, York Creek. There are several petite sirah blocks on the ranch. Planted in the early years of the last century, the Devil’s Hill vines are the oldest. In 1971, Ridge used their fruit to make its first York Creek Petite Sirah. The story of how this came about starts in 1967, when Fritz and Paul Draper—friends, at Stanford—set up a winery in Chile’s coast range. When Paul returned to California, joining Ridge as winemaker in August of 1969, it made sense for Fritz to send Paul these amazing grapes.
No explanation of why they stopped making it after 2016.
My understanding was that Paul Volunteered to give it up. Fritz was giving Ridge a sweetheart deal & Paul told Fritz to drop Ridge & sell the grapes on the open market for a much higher price. Fritz was making the wine under his own label.
Some of those Ridge YC PS’s were legendary wines. The Ridge YC PS ‘71, tasted in the
Mid-’ 90’s was one of the greatest Calif reds I ever had. At a BipinDesai tasting.
Tom
As I recall, the block was/became heavily diseased, resulting in reduced yields. In an effort to restore the block to health, they began an interplanting program with disease resistant plant material. Over time (and following the principle of unintended consequences), the newer vines diluted the qualities that made Devil’s Hill unique and the difference between the Devil’s Hill and what was once the national release (the blend from the various blocks) became difficult to discern. Eventually the Devil’s Hill ceased to be produced separately. Another block, Dynamite Hill, was produced as a single block wine for a couple of vintages, but didn’t match the magic that Devil’s Hill conjured in certain years.
Wow, thanks for the memories. I absolutely love old York Creek PS from Ridge. I got a handful of bottles 1974 and 1973, and a few old Burgess PS from same era, at Side Berns, when they had a retail spot, down from the restaurant. Those wines, especially the 1974s were sublime. I never tried either of the two you mention here. Really cool though!!
Damn, I originally did not open this cause I’m like, “who the heck would even drink an old Petite Sirah,” and now I realized I missed your birthday! Happy birthday buddy!
J/k. Awesome notes. These sound like really cool wines.
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