Tag Archives: Petite Sirah

Tasting in North Dry Creek Valley; Harvest is Coming

Grapes are getting ripe! Harvest 2019 is coming.

Lori and I and son Jacob and cousin Diego went wine tasting in the northern part of Dry Creek Valley last weekend. Here’s a quick recap.

View from the tasting room deck at Zichichi Family Vineyard.

Our first stop was Zichichi Family Vineyard. We had last visited Zichichi probably about 8-10 years ago, and my recollection was that they were a nice small winery with a great view from the tasting room, making a classic Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. Well, the part of my memory that collects wine tasting notes seems to be in pretty good shape, because that’s exactly what we found. I would also add that the people behind the bar in their tasting room were quite enthusiastic and helpful (kudos to Rose). They were doing barrel tastings that day in the cellar, in addition to the normal tastings, and we left having ordered futures of the 2016 Zichichi Old Vine Zinfandel. Delicious.

Next was Sbragia Family Vineyards. We first went there 7 years ago for the Winter Wineland event, and go back regularly for the wines and the view. They sit up the hill toward Lake Sonoma at the very northern tip of Dry Creek Valley, and the view down the valley is great. Another enjoyable tasting experience there.

View of vineyard and Lake Sonoma from the picnic area at Gustafson Family Vineyards.

From Sbragia we drove past Lake Sonoma, heading west towards the coast through the hills to Gustafson Family Vineyards. (If you’re sensing a trend here with the “Family” vineyards, you’re correct, but it was completely coincidental for the day’s agenda.) We first tasted Gustafson wines at a Petite Sirah industry event in 2012, but it took us a couple of years after that to make the effort to drive to the winery. It’s worth it, for the views, for the nice people helping in the tasting room, and especially for the wines. The Heritage Tree Zinfandel is always a favorite of ours, as is the Petite Sirah, and their Syrah was also quite good. By the way, Gustafson also has a tasting room in Healdsburg, making it easy to taste their wines, but then you wouldn’t get the great view from the winery.

Last on the list was Martorana Family Winery, out of the hills and back in Dry Creek Valley. We first visited Martorana about 7 or 8 years ago, and liked their wines and their story. They’ve been growing grapes for decades, but only recently have they begun making their own wine. Very nice wine, made from their organically farmed vineyards. Ask for Donna in the tasting room.

Trellised grape vines getting ready for the harvest.

Harvest is coming! The first grapes have already been picked (for sparkling wines), and the first grapes for the still wines could be picked as early as this week, depending on how the weather goes. Good luck to all the vineyard crews and winemaking teams; may you have a great harvest!

L’Chaim,

Larry

Petite Sirah: Dark and Delicious 2015

P.S. I Love You is the advocacy organization for Petite Sirah. One of their major events each year is Dark and Delicious, an event featuring Petite Sirah producers which also includes various food vendors. It takes place mid-February, this year hosted by Rock Wall Wine Company in Alameda.

San Francisco skyline from Rock Wall Winery

San Francisco skyline from Rock Wall Winery

It was a beautiful evening, and the view of San Francisco from the northern end of the island (Alameda) was spectacular, as you can see from the photo above. So in we went, ready to take on the over 50 different wineries and dozen plus food vendors.

Dark & Delicious 2015

Dark & Delicious 2015

Rock Wall’s barrel room, which is where the event is held, is an old hangar from the Alameda Naval Air Station which used to be there. Big room, big enough so the 1000 or so barrels they have in there don’t seem like so many. I had to do the math twice to be sure: 4 high by 4 deep by 20 wide by 3 walls, plus another 20-40 against the 4th wall. That’s a lot of wine!

We tasted, and tasted, and tasted some more. Petite Sirah is an interesting grape. Primarily used in California as a blending grape to add more body and structure to Zinfandel, it is a big flavored grape, with lots of tannins. It is usually grown in warm climates, like many of the Zinfandel regions. For example, Napa Valley at the northern end near Calistoga, the Sierra Foothills, Lodi in the San Joaquin Valley and Mendocino County (inland areas).

Given the large flavors that develop, it can often be difficult to get everything in balance: nose, fruit, body, finish. Also, since Lori and I have very different palates, we often see these differently. However, the Petite Sirah from Lava Cap Winery in El Dorado County (Sierra Foothills) was the clear winner for both of us. Not the biggest, baddest Petite Sirah of the evening, but the one with the best balance, where everything came together in the right proportions. Lava Cap has been around for more than 25 years. We first came upon them about 22 years ago, when we went on passport weekend to El Dorado County for our first time. We were quite impressed by their Zinfandel at the time. One of my best wine/business stories is about taking a customer from France to a nice steak house in Silicon Valley. Thinking that it could be awkward to order a California version of a French varietal, I went with the “native” California varietal wine, Zinfandel. From Lava Cap. While my French sales rep looked on in trepidation, the customer loved trying something new, something very good. He shoots, he scores!

A few other wines deserve mention as well. These were very good, just not quite as good as the Lava Cap in our oh-so-humble opinion. An interesting note, looking at the list, is that Lori and I have visited every tasting room except Theopolis, which is relatively new to the scene (first time at Dark and Delicious?). These are actually some of the best tasting experiences for one reason or another.

Lava Cap Winery: Beautiful setting in the Sierra Foothills
Artezin Wines: Currently they share the tasting room at the Hess Collection in Napa Valley. The art collection and the gardens at Hess are amazing.
Gustafson Family Vineyards: At the northern end of Dry Creek Valley, Gustafson takes an effort to get there. Friendly staff, beautiful setting and an interesting building, not to mention the wines, make the drive worthwhile.
Ridge Vineyards (specifically liked the Dynamite Hill Petite Sirah): Probably the most interesting architecture for a winery and tasting room, very eco-friendly.
Sones Cellars (specifically liked the Santa Cruz Mountains Petite Sirah): Very small tasting room on the west side of Santa Cruz, with other tasting rooms and restaurants around. Small tasting room, but big heart.
Theopolis Vineyards: Sorry, we had never been there, never heard of it before this event, but liked the wine!
Tres Sabores Winery: Napa Valley, old house, cave cellar, biodynamic vineyards with animals running around (pea hens and sheep are what I remember).

Silent auction at Dark and Delicious

Silent auction at Dark and Delicious

The event also features a silent auction as a fund raiser for the organization. You can usually find great deals if you look hard enough, and then guard your bid. This year it was a vertical of Carol Shelton Winery Rockpile Petite Sirah, from 2009, 2010 and 2011. We’ll let that sit for another year or so, then open together. Interestingly enough, we didn’t get to taste any of the Carol Shelton Petite Sirah at the event, however, we’ll go on faith and reputation of the winery and vineyard. We’ll let you know how it tastes when we open the bottles!

Vertical of Carol Shelton Rockpile Reserve Petit Sirah

Vertical of Carol Shelton Rockpile Reserve Petit Sirah

L’Chaim,

Larry

Just Another Family Get Together

Lori and I went up to Santa Rosa a couple of weekends ago, this time with another relative, but again to see the boys and their families. Of course we had dinner together at the end of the day. (And we watched Game 4 of the World Series, with the San Francisco Giants winning that game and ultimately the World Series!)

Actually, this relative was Lori’s aunt, and she was up visiting us to celebrate her 85th birthday. Lori’s brother and wife drove from Reno to meet us, and the dinner was really her birthday party. We brought up a couple of bottles from the wine cellar for the event:

Audelssa 2001 “Mountain Terraces” Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma Valley

Aver Family Vineyards 2007 “Blessings” Petite Sirah, Santa Clara Valley

The Audelssa 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon in the decanter, about an hour before dinner.

The Audelssa 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon in the decanter, about an hour before dinner.

I wish I could remember the story behind us acquiring the Audelssa Cab, but my memory isn’t that good, and neither is my discipline at keeping notes on wines. The Aver Blessings I remember well. We were at a PS I Love You – Dark & Delicious event in 2010 at Rock Wall Wine Company in Alameda. PS I Love You is the Petite Sirah industry advocacy organization, and Dark & Delicious is a great event showing off different wineries and interesting food pairings, all around Petite Sirah. We had recently visited the Aver tasting room in the Gilroy area, and enjoyed their Petite Sirah. Then they were at the event, and a magnum of the 2007 Blessings was part of the silent auction that night. Mine, mine, mine! I can’t remember what we paid for it, but I considered it a great deal (steal!).

Winemaker B decanting the magnum of Aver Family Vineyards 2007 "Blessings" Petite Sirah

Winemaker B decanting the magnum of Aver Family Vineyards 2007 “Blessings” Petite Sirah

How many dinners do you have where it makes sense to open a magnum? Well, it made sense that night, as we had enough people to drink it and very good food (barbequed hamburgers, maybe not as elegant as for the usual 85th birthday celebration, but very good nonetheless) to pair with it. I’m not a huge fan a Petite Sirah – that’s more Lori’s – but this was even better than we remembered it. Sometimes Petite Sirah is made to just emphasize how big and bold and tannic it can be. But bigger is not always better, and a bit of restraint with this wine allowed the grape, and the wine, to really shine.

Nothing against the Audelssa Cab, which was actually a very good Cab and also went well with the meal, but this night was PS I Love You.

L’Chaim,

Larry