2000 Petite Sirahs Blindtasted

As I've written before, I’m a fan of California Petite Sirahs, which have been identified by DNA profiling in recent years as mainly consisting of the varietal Durif. Old vine field plantings in California from which “Petite Sirahs” have been produced have also been found to include some plain old Syrah, Pelourcin (the parent, with Syrah, of Durif), as well as a Pelourcin/Durif crossing. With significant bottle age—7 to 15 years or more—the tannins on these dark monsters start to soften, and secondary and tertiary flavors add to the complexity of the black fruit, tar, licorice type flavors I most commonly associate with Petites.

This was a blindtasting of mainly Petites (a Zin mistakenly slipped in in place of the T-Vine Petite we were expecting) and mainly from the 2000 vintage (with the exception of a 2001 that one of the participants brought along, and we ended up adding into the lineup). The 2000 vintage was a cool one throughout California, with an early spring, mild summer, and long, cool autumn. While Petite Sirahs are usually among the last grapes to be picked in a vintage, those from 2000 had unusually long hang times, and the grapes that were harvested ended up remarkably deep and concentrated.

This lineup was headed by the Turley Hayne Vineyard, which is the source of the most profound and interesting Petites I've had to date. My report on the complete vertical of Turley Hayne Petites that I tasted in '05 can be found here: http://www.rjonwine.com/california-wine/turley-hayne-petite-sirah/ We also had two of the first Petites from the Thomann Station project, which is owned and managed by Mark Oberschulte. The vineyard was planted in 1997 with Petite Sirah clones from the Hayne Vineyard.

I thought the lineup reflected both the best and worst of California Petite Sirah. Not counting the JC Cellars, which was corked, our worst were the Girard and Rosenblum, which were big and concentrated, and somewhat alcoholic, but lacking in charm or real dimension. I've had a number of Petites like that, where producers seem to be going for ripeness and extraction rather than balance and structure. On the other hand, a couple of these were among the best Petites I've tasted. The 2000 Turley Hayne Vineyard we had was nearly as wonderful as the last time I had it--with great depth, complexity and a very long finish--and it was easily the group's and my favorite. Another very good one was the Lava Cap Granite Hill, which also showed good complexity, with some menthol lift, as well as a long finish. I also very much enjoyed the '01 Deux Amis, even though it seemed by far the youngest and tightest of the tasting, as it also had a complex and tasty palate. The group's second favorite was the T-Vine Zin, probably in large part because it was one of the most accessible wines of the tasting. The two bottlings featuring Thomann Station fruit didn't really stand out in this tasting, but this was, after all, only the first vintage made from this vineyard.

In sum, this tasting was yet another illustration of how good California Petites can be with 10 or more years of age--deep, complex and structured wines, that are highly ageworthy. Like Zinfandel, great Petites are unique to the California wine scene, and I believe they deserve to be more celebrated and sought after than they currently are.

• 2000 Turley Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

  Group's #1 (my #1) – 36 pts; 4 firsts, 1 second, 2 thirds, 0 last places – opaque purple red violet color; tart, roasted black fruit, espresso, tart black fruit, blackberry, chicory nose; tart, roasted black fruit, espresso, mineral, tar palate with depth; long finish

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• 2000 T-Vine Cellars Zinfandel Napa Valley 89 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Group's #2 (my #4) – 42 pts.; 3, 1, 1, 0 - slightly bricking very dark red violet color; tar, char, tart black fruit, smoke, chocolate mint nose; sweet, chocolate, ripe black fruit, tar, chocolate mint, chocolate syrup palate with low acidity; long finish

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• 2000 Lava Cap Petite Sirah Reserve Granite Hill 93 Points

  USA, California, Sierra Foothills, El Dorado

  Group's #3 (my #2) – 44 pts.; 2, 2, 2, 1 - very dark purple red violet color; nice, tart black fruit, tar, dark chocolate, berry nose with menthol lift; tasty, rich, ripe and deep black fruit, ripe berry palate with menthol lift and sweet tannins, needs 1-plus year; long finish 93+ points

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• 2000 Rosenblum Cellars Petite Sirah Pickett Road Vineyard 86 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Group's #4 (my #7) – 49 pts.; 2, 1, 2, 1 - opaque black red violet color; sweet herb, tart black fruit, deep berry, black strap molasses nose; rich, concentrated, black strap molasses, solid berry blackberry palate with obtrusive oak; long finish

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• 2000 Stephen Ross Petite Sirah Thomann Station 87 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Group's #5 (my #6) – 54 pts.; 0, 3, 1, 0 - opaque purple red violet color; high VA, dried berry, oak, tart black fruit nose; mature, concentrated, tart black fruit, tar, oak palate; long finish

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• 2000 Girard Winery Petite Sirah 83 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Group's #6 (my #8) – 56 pts.; 0, 1, 1, 0 - opaque purple red violet color; tart black fruit, smoke, herbs, sweet green herb, reduction nose; tangy, very tart black fruit, herbal, green tobacco, reduction palate with chewy, grainy tannins;medium-plus finish

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• 2001 Deux Amis Petite Sirah Vyborny Vineyard Alexander Valley 92 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Alexander Valley

  Group's #7 (my #3) – 63 pts.; 0, 0, 2, 1 - opaque black red violet color; ripe black fruit, berry, tar, licorice, dark chocolate, mint nose with a little menthol; tight, tart black fruit, tar, baked black fruit, tangy plum palate with mint on the back end and very firm, sweet tannins, needs 6-plus years; medium-plus finish

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• 2000 Robert Biale Petite Sirah Thomann Station 89 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

  Group's #8 (my #5) – 71 pts.; 0, 0 , 0, 1 - opaque purple red violet color; green herb, mint, green tea, ripe black fruit, prune nose; concentrated, sweet, mint, black fruit, tar, gunpowder palate with firm tannins; long finish

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• 2000 Jeff Cohn Cellars Petite Sirah Frediani Vineyard Flawed

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Group's #9 (my #9) – 80 pts.; 0, 2, 0, 7 - opaque black red violet color; TCA, sour corn mash nose; oak, corn mash, concentrated palate with TCA taint; medium-plus finish

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