So much pepper on the nose – white pepper, black pepper pink peppercorn, all the good peppers! Cardamom, chocolate and jerk seasoning spices compliment lavender and chrysanthemum, and even molasses. This wine is so layered and pretty but also really strong. I dare say this is the Stacy Abrams of wine- classy, sharp, and packing a punch.
This wine was picked at a low 25 Brix. It was destemmed into tank and after a 15 day maceration was gently pressed and put to rest in 40% new French and American oak for 18-22 months. Ferment was native and this wine is unfined.
2017 Merisi Petite Sirah
$60.00
Ok here’s the deal with Petite Sirah- you either love it or you think you don’t. I think it is one of those polarizing grapes because people have had crappy cheap ones and so don’t really know what they can taste like. Once you taste one you like, like this one, you will realize that you love Petite Sirah because it is utterly delicious.
Mandy always liked Petite Sirah. She grew up in the Bay Area and her dad would take her to wine tastings and there were loads of Zinfandels, so she always loved Zin. She loved Ravenswood (the original one, before they sold) and learned that a lot of the time winemakers would add a little Petite Sirah to Zins. Eventually a few producers started making stand alone Petite Sirahs and Mandy found herself drawn to them for being spicy and zippy but not too jammy.
This one comes from Diener Vineyard in Lake County. This is grown on a property high in the Red Hills at 2,000 feet elevation. It has extreme 40 degree temperature swings, which this grape can handle because it has thicker skins and is on the heartier side. It has deep rocky red volcanic soils which lend to the white and black pepper notes in this wine.