10th Annual Petite Sirah Symposium & Tasting
Martinelli Event Center & Concannon Vineyard, Livermore, California
Tasted Tuesday, July 31, 2012 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 1,622 views
Introduction
The stars for me at this event, with wines I rated 91 points or higher, were Aver Family, Cougar's Leap, Gustafson Family, Mounts Family, Robert Biale, Ruby Hill, Saddleback, Shoe Shine (for a rosé) and Trueheart. The superstar of the tasting, for me, was Robert Biale, with four Petites or Petite blends I rated 93 points or higher, including an advance look at their 2010 Royal Punishers, which bore out the strong claims a few winemakers were making for the high quality of the 2010 vintage for Petites.
The best of the Petites at this tasting for me, wines I rated 91 points or higher, were:
2008 Aver Family Blessings - 92 points
2009 Cougar's Leap Black Rock Ranch - 91 points
2009 Gustafson Family East Ridge Block - 92 points
2007 Gustafson Family - 91+ points
2009 Mounts Family - 92 points
2008 Mounts Family Petasera - 91+ points
2009 Robert Biale Like Father Like Son - 93 points
2009 Robert Biale Thomann Station - 93 points
2010 Robert Biale Royal Punishers - 94+ points
2009 Robert Biale Palisades Vineyard - 93 points
2009 Ruby Hill Estate Reserve - 91 points
2009 Saddleback Cellars Barrel Select - 91+ points
2008 Shoe Shine Rosé of Petite Sirah - 91 points
2009 Trueheart Vineyard - 93 points
For my complete tasting notes, and a little more background on a few of the wineries represented, see below:
Fred Swan, middle with a magnum of '65 Concannon Petite, flanked by Jim and John Concannon
Flight 1 - Aaron Jackson (1 Note)
Flight 2 - Artezin (2 Notes)
Flight 3 - Aver Family (1 Note)
John and Carolyn Aver are the owners here. They bought their 8.25 acre vineyard in the Uvas Valley, at the southern end of Santa Clara County, in 2005. The southwest facing vineyard had already been planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and Syrah, and they have since added Grenache and Mourvèdre. Their winemaker is Kian Tavakoli, whose previous stints were with Clos du Val and Opus One. Blessings is the name the Avers came up with for their Petite, after their vineyard managed to escape the fires that ravaged nearby properties in 2008.
Flight 4 - Barra of Mendocino (3 Notes)
Flight 5 - Bogle (2 Notes)
Flight 6 - Cantara (1 Note)
Flight 7 - Clayhouse (3 Notes)
Flight 8 - Concannon (3 Notes)
Flight 9 - Cougar's Leap (1 Note)
Flight 10 - Denier-Handal (1 Note)
Flight 11 - Diamond Ridge (1 Note)
Flight 12 - Don Sebastiani (1 Note)
Flight 13 - Envy (1 Note)
Flight 14 - Fenestra (1 Note)
Flight 15 - Foppiano (2 Notes)
Flight 16 - Guglielmo Family (1 Note)
Flight 17 - Gustafson Family (2 Notes)
The Gustafson Family vineyard is on the northwestern end of Dry Creek Valley, near Lake Sonoma. It’s an old sheep ranch, with red volcanic soil, at an elevation of 1800 feet. The entire property, purchased by Minnesota-based landscape architect and real estate developer Dan Gustafson in 2002, totals 247 acres. Much of that consists of old groves of madrone, oak, and redwood trees, including a 300-year-old madrone with a trunk diameter of eleven feet that is thought to be the largest madrone tree in Sonoma County. A small portion of the property was planted starting in 2002, and now totals about 20 acres of vineyards that include Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. Winemaker Emmett Reed previously worked with winemaker Kerry Damskey, who has also been consulting winemaker to Gustafson. Grapes are fermented in open-top bins with a cold soak of several days, manual punch-downs, and extended maceration. The beautifully designed winery and terrific views from their vineyards also make this a great destination for winetasting trips to Sonoma and Dry Creek.
Flight 18 - Line 39 (1 Note)
Flight 19 - Michael-David (2 Notes)
Flight 20 - Mounts Family (2 Notes)
The Mounts have farmed in Dry Creek Valley for over 65 years and grown grapes for 45 years, but only recently ventured into winemaking. They currently have 90 acres planted to 10 different varieties. Son David graduated in '98 from Fresno State with a degree in viticulture and worked at Sonoma-Cutrer for six years before moving on to manage multiple vineyard sites in Napa Valley. In 2005, David, his wife and parents launched Mounts Family Winery, and they're up to 3,000 cases a year while still selling about 85% of their fruit to other local wineries.
Flight 22 - Occasio (1 Note)
Flight 23 - PaZa (1 Note)
Flight 24 - Pedroncelli (1 Note)
Flight 25 - Ranchita Canyon (1 Note)
Flight 26 - Roadrunner Ridge (3 Notes)
Flight 27 - Robert Biale (4 Notes)
The Robert Biale Petites, like their Zinfandels, are always remarkable wines–ripe and powerful, but also complex and balanced. This is truly a benchmark producer of Petite Sirah in California. They source their Petite Sirah grapes from three different vineyards. The Like Father Like Son bottling is a blend of roughly equal amounts of Petite Sirah and Syrah, with a dollop of 7% Zin. The name “Royal Punishers” is an anagram made up of the letters from the names of Petite’s two parents–Syrah and Peloursin. The winemaker is Steve Hall.
Flight 28 - Ruby Hill (1 Note)
Flight 29 - Saddleback (1 Note)
Flight 30 - Shoe Shine (2 Notes)
Flight 31 - Thomas Coyne (2 Notes)
Flight 32 - Trentadue (1 Note)
Flight 33 - Trueheart (1 Note)
Patrick Smith and Ligeia Polidora purchased a flat, tree-less piece of land near downtown Sonoma. They got a report from U.C. Davis as to what grapes would do well on the property, and selected one of the four recommendations, Petite Sirah, based on the fact that it was one that they already loved. In 2004, they planted two acres with two-year-old Petite Sirah vines. They decided to head prune, avoiding trellises and wires. They sold off their fruit in ’06 and ’07, but decided to start making their own wine in 2008. The winemaker is Alex Beloz, who served stints at MacRostie Winery and Caldwell Vineyards before becoming a partner in Obsidina Ridge Winery, while still serving as winemaking consultant for a handful of small producers.
2009 Aaron Petite Sirah 90 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
Opaque purple red violet color; aromatic, pepper, roasted black fruit, tar nose; big, rich, roast black fruit, tar, pepper palate; long finish 90+ points (14.9% alcohol, pH3.79; 24 mos in French oak, 40% new, 6 mos in bottle)
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