The Story: The theme of Wine Blogging Wednesday #40, "Que Que Sirah," is brought to us by Sonadora from Wannabe Wino. Eager to participate in my second WBW and taste my first Petite Sirah, I braved the cold and the rain and booked it on over to K&D Wines. The store only had three Petite Sirahs, only one of which was under $35. I picked up the 2005 Rosenblum Cellars Petite Sirah Heritage Clones for $17.99 and returned home to drink it with a braised lamb shank I had made the day before.
The Region: Contra Costa, California. Contra Costa is located in the San Francisco Bay area. Rosenblum Cellars on Google Maps.
The Grape: Petite Sirah, aka Durif. According to Jancis Robinson's The Oxford Companion to Wine, Petite Sirah is known for producing a "dark, well-balanced, sturdily tannic, red wine of agreeable if not highly distinctive flavor." Some more information on Petite Sirah can be found here.
The Look: Very dark, inky purple.
The Aroma: Strong odors of black pepper and blackberries. Very spicy aroma.
The Swish: At first, I was unable to get beyond the spicy taste of black pepper. Pepper is not a flavor I have come across in a wine before. Eventually, blackberry and coffee notes revealed themselves. This wine had a very thick mouthfeel and a nice, long finish.
The Verdict: Black pepper is not exactly the most pleasurable flavor in a wine, so it took me some time to decide whether or not I liked this wine. While the spice of the pepper was undeniably present in this wine, so too were the delicious coffee and blackberry flavors. The pepper notes in this wine played a similar role to the black pepper I ground on my lamb shank-- enhancing the wine without overwhelming its other wonderful flavors. This wine was perfect on a cold winter night with a hearty winter dish. I would definitely buy it, and other Petite Sirahs, in the future. Thank you, Sonadora, for a wonderful WBW theme and for turning me onto a new varietal.
5 comments:
Hi Eddie, thanks for participating! I find pepper in lots of wines, especially CA Zinfandels. Glad you ultimately came out in favor of PS!
Hi Eddie,
Glad to see you enjoy the PS. As we both find out, lamb & PS does go well red meat with strong flavor. Well done.
Andrew
Thanks for your comments, Sonadora and rougeandblanc. Sonadora, I should have been more clear in my post: I am aware that black pepper is a common flavor in red wines, especially Zinfandels. However, I have not personally had any wines with pepper notes in my limited experience (only the last year) of being interested in wine. I certainly need to expand my wine horizons! Thanks again for hosting WBW #40.
I love peppery wines. I think you may grow to like them too.
Hey Eddie, you still out there? Come on back!
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