Girard Petite Sirah 2009 Napa Valley

Over the last month or two we have been drinking a whole lot of Syrah, so I figured why not open and write about a bottle of Petite Sirah. Petite Sirah or Durif, as it was called in France, is the offspring of Syrah and Peloursin, that was developed in the Rhone valley but never really had much success there. When brought to California, however, the grape thrived. Petite Sirah typically has very small berries, which result is a lot of color, flavor, and tannins. These are wines that can pack a whole lot of punch due to all that dark skin.

One of my very favorite examples of Petite Sirah year in and year out is the Napa Valley Petite Sirah from Girard. The 2009 vintage is intense, opaque purple in your glass. The bouquet brings black raspberry fruit along with some cherry pie, but it also has notes of vanilla, lavender, and spice. In your mouth you get a big blast of up front fruit that is dominated by black raspberry. On the mid-palate you get a little bit of very pleasant spice. Then a wave of mouthwatering acidity and some bold tannins take you for a hedonistic ride to the finish. There is nothing subtle about this wine at all, but with all the fruit, acid, and tannins working together, there is a nice balance and structure to this somewhat complex Petite Sirah. For a price tag in the mid $20's, this is a real crowd pleaser that has something for everyone.

As far as food goes, this big, bold Petite Sirah wants some big and bold food. Get me something that has the fat and flavor to stand up to all those tannins and fruit. This would be fantastic with some slow smoked baby back ribs or a juicy cheeseburger. Its early in the AM as I write this, but I'm already thinking about firing up the grill and popping the cork on another bottle this afternoon. Sitting outside on this ridiculously warm spring day with a big ol' cheeseburger and a glass of Girard Petite Sirah sounds just a little bit like paradise.

Cheers!

Dancing Coyote Wines

Ok, so I’m going to come out and say this right at the beginning. As a general concept, I hate critter labels. I find that most of these labels are made by industrial volume producers who are much better at manufacturing and marketing than they are at winemaking. So it was with quite a bit of reluctance on my part that I agreed to accept some samples for tasting from a California winery called Dancing Coyote.

Dancing Coyote’s story is that the name comes from coyotes that come into their vineyards at night and chew on their irrigation lines. The more interesting part of their story to me is their interest in unusual varietals. This California winery bottles a number of varietals that include Albarino, Chenin Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Grigio, Verdelho, and Petite Sirah. Not your usual collection of grapes from the Golden State. Their current production is about 10,000 cases, and they are focused on the value end of the price scale with most of their wines retailing for $10 to $12.

Now I’m a big believer in non-traditional varietals and trying as many as you can, but my concern here is that Dancing Coyote has a lot of different grapes all being grown in the same basic area in the Clarksburg AVA. I also question if the climate in the Clarksburg AVA is cool enough for some of the white varieties that Dancing Coyotes has chosen.

The first Dancing Coyote wine that I tasted was their Albarino. Albarino is a varietal that is native to the Galician coast of Spain, with its rather cool climate. At its best, Albarino makes fresh, crisp, delicious wines with wonderful aromatic qualities. The Dancing Coyote Albarino 2009 has some pineapple and peach on the nose, but it just doesn’t deliver the intense bouquet that I expect from Albarino. My concern here is that the climate in Clarksburg is just too hot for this grape which is native to the Spanish coast where the average high temperature in July is in the high 60’s compared to the mid 70’s for Clarksburg. On the palate this wine simply falls a little short. I love the idea of growing Albarino in new places, but I’m pretty convinced that the Clarksburg AVA is not the place to do it.

The second wine I tried from Dancing Coyote was their Petite Sirah 2008. The wine was inky purple in color with a rather nice bouquet of black raspberry jam, which had me anticipating a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, this wine was just completely off on the palate. The fruit was raisiny, and the finish had a rather unpleasant oxidized taste to it. This wine was pretty much what I expect from a critter label.

The last wine from Dancing Coyote was their 2009 Gewurztraminer. In your glass, the wine is very pale in color. The nose brings pleasant aromas of honeysuckle with a hint of citrus. On the palate you got more of the same with a good dose of spice. This Gewurztraminer had just the right level of sweetness for me, which is to say it didn’t overwhelm you with residual sugar. All of this was balanced by crisp acidity. In trying these wines, it was the third one that brought some charm. The Dancing Coyote Gewurztraminer is a decent value, and it would pair nicely with spicy Thai food or sushi.

Cheers!