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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.2 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 40 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by kenv on 3/31/2021 & rated 93 points: Decanted at 1pm. Nose of black fruits and sweet licorice. Juicy red fruit and mulch on the palate.
7pm: Big bouquet of spicy red fruit. Rich, juicy fruit. Still some tannin on the long sour cherry finish. Excellent with beef short ribs. (1511 views) | | | Tasted by kenv on 5/5/2020 & rated 92 points: Double decanted. Needed an hour in the glass to round out. Lots of plum and sour cherry. In a lovely spot right now. (1876 views) | | | Tasted by SB5784 on 10/7/2017 & rated 93 points: Drinking very well. Brown cherry colored with clear signs of age. Nose of black fruits (black currant, blackberry) and hints of leather and chocolate and barnyard. Still very fresh on the nose. Balanced and silky on the palate with black fruits. Still good tannin and acidity. Long lingering finish. Medium alcohol. Will last a few more years for sure. (2686 views) | | | Tasted by Blake Brown on 1/17/2017 & rated 92 points: 1994 STAGS LEAP WINE CELLARS NAPA PETITE SIRAH- tasted blind; not to be confused with Stags Leap Winery, this is a rare bird for me from a producer for whom I`m fond of their Cabernets; the colour showed some age with a dark coffee hue; the nose was a welcoming spicy, dark chocolate with a dollop of talc; the taste was so different with minty black currant and black raspberry with a hint of Brett; it was full bodied and hung around for a long finish. (2568 views) | | | Tasted by bspahn on 10/8/2015 & rated 93 points: Received as a part of a $250 Garagiste garage sale mystery box.
Wow. This was awesome. Great acidity with red fruit, but lots of blackberry and bramble in the background. The tannins have receded, and it's showing beautifully. Best after 30-45 minutes of air.
I'm not someone that normally likes California wines, but this was extraordinary. Sad that I'll never get to drink it again. (4592 views) | | | Tasted by sandwich on 7/17/2013 & rated 91 points: Dusty with strong tart notes of overripe blackberry. Nice to try and interesting but way too expensive for a petite sirah. Worth a tasting but don't go out of your way for this one. (5850 views) | | | Tasted by marsilius on 12/6/2012 & rated 92 points: Like below, needed 3 hours to open up. Have saved a little bit for tomorrow just to see what happens. But what a lovely petit sirah, with a long, rich finish, a surprisingly robust fruit core for its age...tempered by the earth/leather. Just a pleasure to drink, but please wait a few hours. Curious what tomorrow will hold. Wish I had more. (6067 views) | | | Tasted by prof b on 11/16/2012: needed a bit of time to open up but surprisingly youthful. No rush. (5276 views) | | | Tasted by eschwet on 11/11/2012 & rated 90 points: Really enjoyed this. Not at all like the modern Petite's that I've had (super dark, inky, high alcohol, generally over the top). More like an aged cab to me. Dusty tobacco and spice with a still solid fruit core of raspberry and lighter red fruits. Definitely improved over the few hours we drank it. Also, like others, lousy cork that I had to strain out of the wine after it broke in half.... Garagiste sourced. Worth a try, but at $60 out of my typical range... Fun to see how good California wine from almost 20 years ago stands up. (5053 views) | | | Tasted by cartime on 10/21/2012 & rated 94 points: Purchased from Garagiste. This wine was in great shape. On opening, was showing very well. Slow-ox'ed for 4 hours and it gained some depth. Youthful red-black color. Nose of blackberry jam, pipe tobacco, leather, vanilla, espresso, cedar, and pine resin. Rich, balanced palate of black raspberry, lavender, mocha, mint, and earth. Smooth, extremely fine tannins and still with enough acidity to pair well with pasta with sausage-tomato ragu. Deep, long, black-red fruit and spice finish. (3439 views) | | | Tasted by schwak on 7/29/2012 & rated 92 points: very good bottle of wine. was relatively simple but in great balance and quite enjoyable. (2011 views) | | | Tasted by prospero on 5/28/2012: Was hoping for a bottle like Garagiste's 2nd from the description below, ended up with something more like the first. Soft cork gave way to the aroma of old wine - not bad, but way past peek, no varietal character. Decanted and slowly consumed over 5-6 hours. While the stinky old wine aromatics dissipated by half, nothing was emerging to take their place. Not unenjoyable, but not worth $60 either. Fingers crossed for bottle two . . . (1976 views) | | | Tasted by Loren Sonkin on 4/19/2012 & rated 87 points: A Tasting of Petite Sirahs (My Home): Another disappointing showing. Purple in color. The nose is dusty with some black raspberries. Thinner on the palate. Tart with drying tannins. There is nice fruit (blueberries), but I would have hoped for better. Bought about 10 years ago as a re-release. (2540 views) | | | Tasted by AZ Cat on 4/8/2012 flawed bottle: Maderized. (2352 views) | | | Tasted by Mig22 on 3/31/2012 & rated 93 points: Ah, aged wine. Cork was soft and I was worried but full to the neck. Initial funky odor dissipated quickly. Needs some air, maybe 60-90 mins before starting it. Appeared young for 17+ years, color still rich red-purple and not really clear on the rim. Bouquet of mushrooms and meat over the ripe cherries. Palate just kept getting better, with a bit of menthol on top of the cherries and mushrooms. Lithe for a PS. Really a pleasure. One more bottle left. (2056 views) | | | Tasted by RationalDenial on 3/9/2012: Stunning. Warm earth, cherry compote and spice. This wine had youthful vitality that would make you a skeptic about its age. And an ethereal quality, especially mid-palate, that offered up the sense of pure fruit, floating, lingering... (1975 views) | | | Tasted by petermpls on 2/11/2012 & rated 92 points: Both bottles were excellent though one was significantly jammier than the other. (2008 views) | | | Tasted by fournet on 1/29/2012 & rated 95 points: Best bottle of the night. Decanted 4 hours and drank with filet mignon and dirty rice stuffed chicken. While it was super tight when I tested it at an hour, it radically changed by hour four. Super smooth. Sweet tannins that are not nearly as powerful as most petite sirahs. Surprised how much fruit was still there after 17+ years. Best Cali bottle of any variety that I have had in quite some time. (2171 views) | | | Tasted by Highlander on 12/2/2011 flawed bottle: DOA.....Dead on Arrival.....soft cork.....so maybe it got more air than the 17 years.....3 more to try....WAIT.....bottle two, day two.....Lovely....like a tart raspberry with a leather tobacco background. still had a soft cork. Whoever was in charge of this could have splurged and bought regular sized corks.....not these cheap shorties. (2477 views) | | | Tasted by Javachip on 10/22/2011 & rated 85 points: Dark, inky garnet. Likely past-prime, with impressively concentrated bouquet of dusty, dried jammy black fruits, wood, and spice. Chalky tongue-coating tannins still present. (2497 views) | | | Tasted by Wamrod on 8/23/2011 & rated 89 points: conisistent with last bottle (2576 views) | | | Tasted by joefel on 7/19/2011: Popped and poured. Cork was very soft and wine-soaked more than half way up the cork and broke while extracting. Very oxidized nose - could not get any varietal notes at all, even 3 hours later. Dark garnet in color and very soft on the palate - no harshness at all. I'm hoping my other bottles will be better, so I'm reserving a score 'til then. (2677 views) | | | Tasted by La Cave d'Argent on 6/24/2011 & rated 92 points: This wine was tasted in double-blind fashion at Vintage Wines, Ltd. The bottle was kindly provided by John Pollack. Opaque crimson, it shows a very intense bouquet of cranberry, vanilla, clove and earth. Full-bodied on the palate, with low-to-medium acidity, light residual tannins and well-integrated alcohol. The flavors mirror the nose and the middle palate carries through to a long, smooth finish. This is quintessential Petite Sirah, nicely demonstrating how well-made versions of the varietal can age gracefully. Drink now-12/15. (2648 views) | | | Tasted by Wamrod on 6/11/2011 & rated 89 points: Quite nice, but fairly simple. Not as lush or complex as the Perry's Blend Juslyn we had tonight. But nicely aged and a little life left before it heads downhill.
Dark garnet. Good fruity nose with burnt toasty aroma. Followed through to palate with plum, black fruit, little raisins.
Finish a bit short, but typical of the variety maybe. (2791 views) | | | Tasted by silton on 5/29/2011 & rated 93 points: eclectic spring tasting (Scott & Todd's): my WOTD, few notes taken, just an awesome interplay of fruit and secondary characteristics, hopefully its sister bottle will show just as well. 93+. (3360 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Jon Rimmerman
Garagiste (2/8/2011)
(STAGS LEAP Petite Syrah) 1994 Stags Leap Dear Friends, This is an unusual offer but it’s good to change things up a bit. Before the cult Napa craze of the mid 1990s there were the original “cult” wines that built their reputation on eccentricity and a mailing list or restaurant-only mantra before hundreds of other wineries caught on to their methods. Sean Thackrey’s Orion was one of them (along with Dehlinger and a few others) but another was Stags’ Leap Petite Syrah – a wine that combined the funk and typicity of the Stags Leap sub-district with a deep/black color and tone that became a blueprint for many famous producers to come – producers that took that model and applied it to Cabernet. In essence, Stags’ Leap Petite Syrah was a model of ink and depth in the 1970s and 1980s (with low alcohol) before massive extract became popular...and they age – in certain vintages like an iceberg with decades of evolution and potential in front of them. Which brings us to 1994. The one-two punch of 1994/1995 remains (arguably) the most important back-to-back tandem of the last 20-30 years in California wine. The two vintages were responsible for an explosion in the popularity of expensive domestic red wine and while 1995 is the stronger and more sturdy of the two, 1994 still has its legion of fans (much like 1995 and 1996 in the Medoc). Coming up on age 17, the 1994s are either at peak, slightly past or still ascending the hilltop – there is no uniform stance on the vintage – each wine requires tasting. Considering the reputation of the year, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at one of the original mavericks of Napa Valley produced during a golden era that may never come again – 1994 Stags’ Leap Petite Syrah. I tasted two bottles of this wine, both from the winery cellar and both in what I would call “mint AAA” condition (above mint). The corks looked like 2009 corks with nary a spider line or movement up the sides. The ullage was very high, what you would expect of a wine at 3-4 years of age not 16-17. Both bottles were decanted for 30 minutes and both were still black as night with an alluring red hue buried within the night sky. My assessment is as follows: Bottle #1 – Good; took 6-8 hours to come around but never quite opened on the first night. Night two was far more expressive but still only good to v. good. Excellent color/appearance and weight but the palate was somehow held in suspended animation while the wine and aromatics were just past peak and ever so slightly oxidative. Certainly enjoyable and an interesting study but not $100+ enjoyable. Bottle #2 – Stunning; after 3-4 hours this wine came alive like a low-alcohol electric sledgehammer. Incredible scents of earth, tobacco, spice, pure fruit and Dunhill/resin/aged cedar with a palate-staining purple quality that is almost impossible to believe at this age. 60-90 second finish of purity and textural extractive with little sense of age or other. One of the best examples of this wine I’ve tasted as the eccentric mystery is there in spades but so is the sheer wow factor of deep fruit aligned to low alcohol. Reminds me of a junior mid-1980s Grange. The disparity of the two bottles is not as unusual as you would think – it is somewhat par for the course at 15-20 years of age for any wine (every bottle ages on a separate track due to cork, etc). I told the winery about my experience and they said their TNs are a lot closer to my bottle #2 notes – they said if I left bottle #1 alone for another 2-3 days, it would have turned much closer to bottle #2 (well, I didn’t, so we’ll never know but they have far more experience with this wine and vintage than I). A potentially exhilarating experience that is worth taking a flyer on (especially considering the incredible provenance). I don’t have my laptop but I'm sure there are community TNs on this as well – there have to be at this age? This parcel has the exact same “mint AAA” provenance as what I tasted – cellared for over 15 years by the winery. The 1994 and 1995 versions of this wine have become very difficult to source which makes this even more interesting: 1994 Stags’ Leap Petite Syrah - FIRST COME FIRST SERVED up to 12/person until we run out To order: niki@garagistewine.com This parcel is set to arrive in 3-4 weeks (please check OARS for local pick up after March 15th). It will ship during the Spring shipping season. Out of state orders will be held for free under ideal storage conditions (56 degrees/70%humidity) until shipping is possible. Locals may pick up at their leisure. For current local pick up and arrival/ship information, please see your OARS link below (at the bottom of this offer) - don’t know how to access your OARS? Simply click the link and see your account. You can also paste the link into your browser. If you are having trouble with your link or your account, please contact: support@garagistewine.com NO SALES TO RETAILERS OR WHOLESALERS Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA CA4970 Click here to view the status of your orders in O.A.R.S. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Garagiste. (manage subscription channels) |
| Stags' Leap Winery Producer website
NOTE: This is easily confused with Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, but Stags' Leap Winery is a different winery. [StagsLeap See details here].Petite Sirah Varietal character (Appellation America) | P.S. I Love You: A Petite Sirah Advocacy Organization
Petite Sirah is a variety of red wine grape grown in France, California, Israel and Australia. Recently, wineries located in Washington State's Yakima Valley, Maryland, Arizona, West Virginia, Mexico, Chile's Colchagua Valley and Maipo Valley, and Ontario's Niagara Peninsula have also produced wines from Petite Sirah grapes. Though developed in France, it is nearly extinct there as of 2002, hanging on in limited plantings in the Isère and Ardêche regions of the Rhône Valley and in Palette, a tiny appellation in Provence. It is the main grape known in the US and Israel as Petite Sirah with over 90% of the California plantings labeled "Petite Sirah" being Durif grapes; the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms recognizes "Durif" and "Petite Sirah" as interchangeable synonyms referring to the same grape. The grape originated as a cross of Syrah pollen germinating a Peloursin plant. On some occasions, Peloursin and Syrah vines may be called Petite Sirah, usually because the varieties are extremely difficult to distinguish in old age.
The 'petite' in the name of this grape refers to the size of its berries and not the vine, which is particularly vigorous. The leaves are large with a bright green upper surface and paler green lower surface. The grape forms tightly packed clusters that can be susceptible to rotting in rainy environments. The small berries creates a high skin to juice ratio which can produce very tannic wines if the juice goes through an extended maceration period. In the presence of new oak barrels the wine can develop an aroma of melted chocolate.
Petite Sirah produces dark, inky colored wines that are relatively acidic with firm texture and mouth feel. The bouquet has herbal and black pepper overtones, with plum and blackberry flavors on the palate. Compared to Syrah, the wine is noticeably more dark and purplish in color. The wines are very tannic with aging ability that can eclipse 20 years in the bottle.USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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