TASTING NOTES
The 2009 La Petite Sirah is a powerful wine with an earthy nose. The wine has a deep dark red color. It exhibits a fleshy mouthfeel with a rich, dense, soft mid-palate giving way to a long red fruit finish. La Petit Sirah is a beautiful rich wine pairing well with hearty dishes as well as cheeses. .
WINEMAKING NOTES
The fruit was hand picked on October 8th, 2009. After 24 hours of cold soaking, the must fermented 10 days on its skin with frequent punch downs at the beginning of fermentation. Then the wine was pressed and barreled into French oak. The wine was aged for 18 months total before bottling. A total of 57 cases were produced.
VINTAGE NOTES
The 2009 La Petite Sirah is the second vintage of Petite Sirah we have produced and comes entirely from our estate vineyard located in Calistoga. In 2008 we conducted a soil study of entire property. The result of this study showed that despite the deep, rich soil of the majority of our land, the Petite Sirah vineyard is actually planted on a gravel area, allowing the vines to experience a water deficit early in the season around veraison. This deficit is necessary to produce quality red fruit; small berries and phenolic compounds such as tannin and color.