Nose
The 2017 Petite Sirah is vibrant and expressive with a cornucopia of blackberry, blueberry and black cherry fruits interwoven with floral musky notes of violet and jasmine, alongside more savory herbal notes of white pepper, earthy loam and crushed rock mineral notes.
Palate
On the palate, juicy flavors of creamy cassis, macerated blackberry, cherry kirsch, black licorice and peppery plum envelope the rich, saturated mouthfeel, followed by a subtle black gunpowder tea, allspice and black pepper note from the oak ageing integrates seamlessly. This wine is intense and robust with velvety tannins and a generous lengthy finish, with acidity supporting throughout, encouraging you to enjoy it now, but has the depth and complexity to age for many years to come.
Growing Conditions
Grapes from the vineyards located on our estate's deep, rocky soils make up the backbone of this Napa Valley Petite Sirah. Carefully selected fruit from both northern vineyards in Calistoga and St. Helena and southern vineyards in Oakville, Oak Knoll and Coombsville are added to intensify and broaden the wine's profile to include floral, spice and fruit characteristics. Petite Sirah is a varietal that is enhanced by the deliberate diversity of our vineyard sites.
Harvest
The 2017 vintage in the Napa Valley was smaller yielding but high in quality. The region enjoyed much needed rain during the winter months ending the drought. A short period of warmer than usual temperatures during Labor Day weekend accelerated harvest for early ripening grapes varieties, resulting in an intense and, at times, unpredictable harvest. Though yields were lower than usual, the wines show exceptional flavor intensity and conditions were perfect for producing a wine with beautiful fruit as well as tremendous concentration of flavors, highly saturated color, and layers of complexity.
Bottling
- Enclosure Type: Cork
Winemaking
Continuing the same time-honored techniques that have made Petite Sirah one of our winery’s staples, Winemaker Christophe Paubert practiced simple and traditional methods to show the uniqueness of the Petite Sirah fruit. Avoiding over extraction, the wine went through a relatively short maceration period (9-12 days on average) that included fermentation.
Aging
The wine aged for 14 months in American oak barrels (25% new), allowing the spiciness of the oak to complement the natural spice character of the varietal. The final blend included small amounts of Syrah, Grenache and other mixed Rhone varietals to bring further complexity to the finished wine.
- 100% American oak (25% new) for 14 months
Appearance
Deep garnet-purple colored.
