by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

We tried last week (2/7/07) some New PetiteSirahs :

1. ShannonRidgeVnyds TwoAngels PetiteSirah LakeCnty (?%) C&B by TwoAngels/Oakville 2003: Black color; very strong plummy/licorice some Am.oaked bit closed nose; soft/fat/porky
   plummy/licorice some vanilla/oak flavor; med.short bit tannic/astringent soft/porky licorice/plummy oaked finish; bit on the simple side and too porky. $26.00
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2. AugustBriggs LakeCnty PetiteSirah (15.3%) 2004: Black color; strong perfumed/aromatic/
   peppery/spicy berry/plummy some toasty/oak lovely nose; soft rather tannic strong plummy/berry rather toasty/oak interesting flavor; long rather tannic/hard plummy/berry/ licorice some toasty/ charred/oak/pungent finish; needs 2-5 yrs; quite an attractive PS if a bit pricey. $36.00
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3. Barnwood SantaBarbaraCnty LongShadow PetiteSirah (14.1%; www.BarnwoodWine.com) 2004: Black color; strong plummy/blackberry/boysenberry/jammy/very ripe some minerally/ spicy bit Fr.oak/vanilla attractive nose; very soft ripe/overripe plummy/boysenberry/ very jammy slight spicy some vanilla/oak flavor; med.long soft/porky/fat plummy/ jammy/boysenberry/overripe finish w/ little tannins; attractive if overripe nose but lacks structure on the palate; Oz in style; fairly priced at $18.00
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4. Consilience SantaBarbaraCnty PetiteSirah (16.5%) 2004: Black color; strong toasty/oak
   rather hot/alcoholic/fumey slight plummy/overripe nose; soft/fat/porky very hot/fumey/ alcoholic slight plummy/jammy/Smuckers/overripe rather toasty/oak flavor; med.long plummy/overripe rather hot/fumey finish w/ some tannins; a bit lacking in fruit, rather overripe in character and quite hot & fumey. $24.00
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5. RosenblumCllrs RhodesVnyd/RedwoodVlly PS (15.7%; www.RosenblumCllrs.com) 2004: Black color; strong vanilla/oaked ripe/PS/plummy/peppery loads of fruit nose; soft/lush boysenberry/ plummy/blackberry huge fruit strong vanilla/oak flavor; long ripe some tannic loads of plummy boysenberry/fruit/spicy/peppery finish; needs several yrs; bit lacking in structure but loads of PS fruit. $25.00
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6. DavidFulton PetiteSirah NapaVlly (EB; 15.5%) 2002: Black color; spme toasty/vanilla/oak
   some peppery/plummy some old vines/dusty attractive nose; soft/lush licorice/plummy/blackberry/PS some buttery/vanilla/oak bit tannic flavor; long ripe/peppery fairly plummy/blackberry vanilla/ toasty/buttery/oak finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; quite good PS if a bit on the pricey side. $40.00
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7. Ridge Calif PetiteSirah DynamiteHill/YorkCreekVnyd/SpringMtnDistrict (14.6%; 40 brls;
   Drk: 6/04-6/19) 2002: Black color; strong peppery/blackberry/boysenberry/PS bit pungent/
   toasty/vanilla/oak rather perfumed nose; bit tannic bit alcoholic vanilla/smokey/toasty/ oak huge/extracted blackberry/peppery/spicy some dusty/old vines flavor; very long rather tannic big/extracted/spicy/blackberry/peppery some pungent/smokey/oak finish; very big wine that needs age; one of the best Ridge PSs of late; very good price at $30.00
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8. Turley RattlesnakeRidge/HowellMtn PetiteSirah (15.2%) 2004: Very black color; beautiful/
   exotic cracked black pepper/blackberry some charred/toasty/roasted/oak complex nose; rather
   tannic huge/extracted intense cracked black pepper intense blackberry/boysenberry/spicy flavor; very long cracked black pepper intense blackberry/boysenberry loads of fruit finish w/ ample tannins; very structured and needs age; should go at least 10 yrs; very exotic/ interesting PS. $48.50
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9. Turley NapaVlly LibraryVnyd PS (15.3%) 2003: Black color; very intense blackberry/boysenberry
   huge fruit light toasty/oak nose; soft huge fruit/blackberry/boysenberry light toasty/oak smooth/ balanced/lush flavor; very long/lush blackberry/boysenberry/PS huge fruit bit tannic finish; huge PS fruit, bit simpler than to '03. $42.50
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10. Turley NapaVlly PetiteSirah LibraryVnyd (15.5%) 2004: Black color; rather roasted/black
    pepper/pungent ripe blackberry/boysenberry/PS light toasty/oak some complex nose; soft/lush
    some black pepper/pungent light toasty/oak big/blackberry/boysenberry/PS bit more complex
    flavor; rather tannic huge/blackberry/boysenberry/PS some black pepper finish; needs 2-6 yrs; terrific huge PS. $43.00
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11. Turley TurleyEstate/NapaVlly PetiteSirah (14.6%) 2004: Black color; beautiful bit peppery/
    smoked/charred/pungent toasty/oak intense boysenberry/blackberry/PS complex some spicy/
    complex nose; soft/lush/mouthfilling huge blackberry/boysenberry/PS some toasty/smokey
    spicy/peppery slight tannic flavor; very long intense/extracted boysenberry/blackberry/
    ripe/PS some tannic finish; needs 2-6 yrs; a big huge extracted PS. $42.50
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12. Turley NapaVlly HayneVnyd PS (15.0%) 2003: Black color; huge bit alcoholic/hot intense
    blackberry/boysenberry/PS slight peppery/spicy huge fruit light toasty/oak nose; somewhat
    hot/alcoholic huge/blackberry/boysenberry/PS light toasty/oak light spicy/peppery bit earthy/dusty flavor; very long intense/boysenberry/blackberry/PS some alcoholic bit dusty fairly tannic finish; needs much age. $79.50
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13. Turley NapaVlly PetiteSirah HayneVnyd (15.0%) 2004: Very black/opaque color; more juicy/
    jammy very intense blackberry/boysenberry/PS/slight peppery very ripe/lush huge fruit nose; soft very ripe/overripe/lush extracted boysenberry/blackberry/jammy/spicy/peppery/plummy huge fruit flavor; very long/lingering some tannic jammy/boysenberry/blackberry/PS slight peppery finish w/ some tannins underneath; needs 2-8 yrs; killer PS but not worth the tariff over the other Turleys. $80.00
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14. Jaffurs ThompsonVnyd/SantaBarbaraCnty PetiteSirah (ArchibaldCuvee; 15.8%) 2005: Very black to extreme black color; huge/ripe blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah/perfumed loads of fruit nose; tart huge/rich/extracted very spicy/blackberry/boysenberry/PS/peppery some toasty/smokey/oak loads of fruit flavor; very long/lingering huge/very spicy/blackberry/boysenberry/PS/peppery finish w/ ample tannins; needs 2-8 yrs; huge/intense fruit rare for PS; a stunning example of PS. $28.50
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15. Callaway Vnyd&Wnry PetiteSirah (EB; 13.5%) 1974: Med.dark color; slight mousy/earthy/old
    wine/decayed leaves rather toasty/smokey/pungent/charred slight spicy/peppery some complex
    slight alcoholic nose; soft/smooth/velvety burnt/charred/oak/pungent/forest fire some tarry/pungent slight earthy/decayed leaves some complex flavor; med.long smooth/elegant/complex some tarry/ earthy/pungent/smokey bit earthy/decayed leaves finish w/light tannins; quite an interesting wine a bit like old Nebbiolo; on the downside but quite smooth. Blair's mystery wine.
    
    
    
    

1. Plows: Being a Kansas plowboy, I know a thing or two about plows. We're big on tools like that. I happened to serve the Rosenblum & the Fulton together. Both of them have a drawing of the Fulton plow on them. Kent's plow is an old one he has sitting there on his LoneTree property. DavidFulton was the founder of FultonWnry. It was inherited 10 yrs ago by FultonMather, the great grandson of David. David was the inventor of the Fulton plow, the first one-horse plow that allowed the farmers then in the middle 1800's to cultivate between their rows of vines. It became wildly popular w/ small farmers who could only afford one horse. I remember when ol'man McGee, down the street, brought his horse and Fulton plow to our back yard and plowed up the ground for our garden, back when I was young (not so long ago). Thus endeth today's lecture on plows. Next week we'll talk about the history of manure spreaders, another tool on which I have some expertise.
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2. Consilience: This is one winery I have trouble with. So many of their wines are way too alcoholic and over the top and fumey. And then, every once in awhile, I'll hit one I really like. But the odds seem to be worse than Burgundy.
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3. Callaway PS: MyMyMy...this wine was a blast from the past. Back in the early '70's, Ely
Callaway started the first real planting down in the Temecula. He of the shirt and golf club whacker fame. In addition to mostly whites (alas, no Viognier yet), he also planted Cabernet and PetiteSirah. Those wines were some of the blackest wines I ever done see'd. I just knew that they'd live forever. Ely's big schtick was the use of small German oak. It was well toasted and gave the wines a rather bizarre flavor, in addition to the strange terroir flavors. The were awfully bizarre reds and were highly villified by the wine press for their lack of typicity. Just way too strange for most folks. Eventually, they gave up and pulled all those red vines and focused on the whites. Alas, my btls have long since gone. Blair had one more left and brought it. Although it wasn't a killer PS, it was quite interesting because of its background. It was one of those very rare old Calif reds where the tannins had resolved very well and the wine didn't end up tasting old/tired and dried out/astringent. It still had some life in it and kinda piroetted across the palate; something PetiteSirahs seldom do.
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4. Turley PS: I've come to the realization that I actually like the PSs better than I like the Zins, as a rule. They are usually a bit more restrained in alcohol (though I find most of the Turley wines carry the alcohol well and are, generally, not over-the-top) and often more structured. And, 'cept for the Hayne, not unreasonably priced. Ehren manages to get more fruit extraction than most from his PS, yet the tannin levels seem pretty restrained.
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5. Jaffurs PS: This is consistently one incredible PS; one of the best made in Calif. Huge and packed w/ fruit, yet not over-the-top I think. Should you ever encounter a btl of this wine w/ an "Archibald Cuvee" stamp on the label, that one of the many btls that came to LosAlamos. The "Archibald Cuvee" is a tribute to LarryArchibald's contribution to the making of this wine. He had the very important job of sorting...out the earwigs that came in with the grapes. The pay is pretty lousy ($0/hr), but the fringe benefits are to die for...all the earwigs you can eat for lunch.

TomHill