Mature Petite Sirahs 1980-1985 Blindtasted

Introductory comments by tasting organizer Ross Bott:
Petite Sirah is a varietal that is rich with character -- full of spices and black pepper overlaying black cherry and blackberry fruit, and with great acids structure and tannins to boot. From this perspective, it's a wonder that the varietal ever fell out of favor. However, after a lot of interest in the 1970s, only a handful of winemakers carried the Petite torch through the 1980s and early 1990s -- Ridge, Stag's Leap Vintners, Rosenblum, David Bruce, Foppiano, Hop Kiln, Concannon and a just few others continued to make Pets through the PS Dark Ages.

in the past few years, there's been a resurgence in interest in Petite Sirah. There's even an advocacy group (the equivalent of Zinfandel's ZAP) with the catchy name "PS I Love You" (www.psiloveyou.org), and many more big names such as Switchback Ridge, Turley, Carver Sutro, Outpost and Biale jumping in. Some of the new Pets coming from these producers take the varietal in a new direction, harvesting the grapes at high levels of ripeness (which both emphasizes the fruit and helps to "sweeten" the tannins) and often aging in new French oak. While many of these are outstanding wines, they are quite different from the style taken by the long-time Petite producers, who harvested at lower brix, aged in older oak barrels, and counted on a decade or two of aging to allow the wine to soften.

With the renewed excitement in Petite, there is also a lot of interest in how Petites age. At the same time, there are so few old Petite labels to try, and even fewer bottles left to sample. Tonight, we'll contribute to this library of old Pet tasting notes with eight Petite Sirahs from the first half of the 1980s, including two Ridge York Creeks, examples from both Stag's Leap Vintners and Warren Winiarski's Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, two from Ken Rosenblum's first winery (whose semi-secret new winery is going to specialize in Petites), Hop Kiln, and Granite Springs. In today's era of 14.5-16.5% wines, it's interesting to note that none of the wines below has any more than 13.8% alcohol. Some notes on the wines we'll try:

1980 Ridge "York Creek Vineyard", Spring Mountain (78% Dynamite Hill, 22% Lake Vineyard, 12.2%)
1981 Ridge "York Creek Vineyard", Spring Mountain (85% Petite Sirah, 15% Zinfandel, 12.2%)
Ridge's Petites are tight and tannic when young, and take at least ten years to begin to show what they are about. I've found that they can easily last 20-30 years; in fact, I've not had one that I'd consider past its prime. The 1977 York Creek swept the tasting of Petites from the 1970s that we had recently.

1980 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, North Coast (12.8%): Made by Warren Winiarski, better known for his great Stag's Leap Cabernets. This is done very much in his Cab style -- elegant and forward, yet capable of long aging.

1983 Rosenblum "St. George and Rich Vineyards", Napa Valley (13.8%)
1984 Rosenblum "St. George Vineyard", Napa Valley (13.5%)
Ken Rosenblum's first Petite Sirah was in 1979, the second vintage after he founded Rosenblum (which he finally sold to the liquor conglomerate Diageo in 2007). Rosenblum was fortunate to get access to some of the best old Petite vineyards near the Palisades region in northern Calistoga, and some of his early Petites are almost as ageless as the Ridge York Creeks.

1984 Stag's Leap Vintners, Napa Valley (13.5%): From the "other" Stag's Leap winery, the one which has specialized in Petites since its first wine in 1972 and has been making Petite Sirah continually for the past 36 years. These wines have always captured the best in Petite. More new oak was used by Stag's Leap than many of their contemporaries, but time has showing that the oak integrates very well with age. This 1984 was one of their best vintages ever.

1985 Hop Kiln "M Griffin Vineyard", Russian River Valley (13.5%): Hop Kiln is literally next door to Rochioli, and this cool area of the Russian River Valley known for great Pinot Noir seems hardly the place to plant Petite Sirah. However, Marty Griffin planted his Petite long before Rochioli existed and has made some very fine ones over the years.

1985 Granite Springs "Granite Hill Vineyard", El Dorado (13.5%): Granite Springs was one of the first wineries started in the Sierra Foothills, and pioneered the planting of Petite Sirah in this region. The warm climate is tempered by the high altitude and that, combined with the granite-laden soils, seems to bring out a minerally spiciness in the varietal. Granite Springs Petites are some of the most fragrant, spicy examples of Petites around.

• 1985 Hop Kiln / HKG Wines Petite Sirah M. Griffin Vineyards 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Group's #1 (my #2) – 37 pts; 2 firsts, 1 second, 1 third, 0 last places – dark red violet color; complex, poised, tart plum, floral, berry and black fruit nose; black fruit, tart blackberry and creosote palate with a smoky core; medium-plus finish

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• 1983 Rosenblum Cellars Petite Sirah 92 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Group's #2 (my #1) – 39 pts.; 2, 2, 1, 0 - medium red violet color with pale meniscus; graphite, smoke, roast pork nose; tart black fruit and creosote palate with medium acidity and a tangy herbal dimension; medium-plus finish 92+ pts.

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• 1984 Stags' Leap Winery Petite Sirah 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Group's #3 (my #4) – 41 pts.; 1, 3, 1, 1 - dark red violet color; mature berry, blue fruit and tart prune nose; tart, tar, graphite, creosote and tart black fruit palate; medium-plus finish

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• 1981 Ridge Petite Sirah York Creek 88 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  Group's #4 (my #6) – 44 pts.; 1, 1, 1, 0 - slightly cloudy dark magenta color with pale meniscus; mature, black fruit, savory, graphite and sweet smoke nose; tart black fruit, tar and graphite palate; medium finish (not getting better from here; 85% Petite Sirah, 15% Zin)

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• 1984 Rosenblum Cellars Petite Sirah 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Group's #5 (my #3) – 47 pts.; 1, 1, 2, 3 - medium red violet color with pale meniscus; sweet barbecue, mature black fruit and green herbs nose; tart plum, herbal bay laurel and strong tea palate with breadth; medium finish 90+ pts.

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• 1980 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Petite Sirah 89 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Group's #6 (my #5) – 48 pts.; 2, 0, 1, 3 - medium cherry red color; tangy, VA, tart graphite-filled barley soup nose; herbal, sage, tart black fruit and creosote palate with tangy tannins; medium-plus finish

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• 1980 Ridge Petite Sirah York Creek 81 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District

  Group's #7 (my #8) – 51 pts.; 0, 2, 1, 1 - slightly cloudy and bricking dark red violet color with pale meniscus; nice, deep, herbal, bay laurel, herbal smoke and graphite nose; very tart, narrow, mature black fruit and bay laurel palate, with thin mid-palate, tannic; short finish (78% Dynamite Hill, 22% Lake)

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• 1985 Granite Springs Petite Sirah Granite Hills Vineyards 83 Points

  USA, California, Sierra Foothills, El Dorado

  Group's #8 (my #7) – 53 pts.; 1, 0, 2, 2 – medium red violet color; mature, earthy, mushroom and pine nose, that gets mustier as it sits in the glass; pinched, herbal, black fruit, green, mint palate; short-medium finish

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