A Petite Sirah What If ...
California's underdog grape can do amazing things in the right place and the right hands
Posted: Dec 19, 2011 11:30am ET
If only most Petite Sirahs were as delicious and refined, rich and graceful as the 2009 Relic Napa Valley Old Vines Petite from Frediani Vineyard ($52, 198 cases made). Maybe then people would have a different take on this old-time underdog grape, and Napa Valley for that matter.
Petite Sirah is one of wine's unsung heroes, almost always an afterthought grape, except for from sites like Frediani Vineyard in Calistoga. It's a vine that owes its heritage to the mix of grapes that hail from France's Southern Rhône Valley. Most of the praise—here as in there—goes to the better-known and more popular Syrahs and Grenaches and blends that hail from there.
That won't change, but one sip of this wine will give you a new appreciation for Petite Sirah presented in a supple, fleshy, deeply fruited style.
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