This is the Big Rock Candy Mountain of wine! Super-ripe blackberry pie with a hint of briar, this 100% Petite Sirah is massively extracted, yet maintains a sense of balance and elegance. A lush round mouthfeel avoids the monolithic astringency of this variety, while gentle tannins provide a lingering finish. This will be fun to enjoy from now until 2062...
 
For lovers of big, extracted red wines, packed with flavor and fine tannins, this is the variety for you! Not to be confused with Syrah... Petite Sirah was originally discovered in 1877 by a French botanist Francois Durif, working at the Montpe- lier Viticultural Institute in southern France. He found this seedling growing in a Peloursin vineyard and discovered that it had good resistance to downy mildew and named it for himself, Durif.
 
Unfortunately, the tight clusters were prone to bunch rot and the wines that were produced were considered too big and tannic for the French palate and the variety was eradicated in France. It did make its way to California and other parts of the world where it is known as Petite Sirah. There is nothing “petite” about it – even the berries are very large and the wines can be enormous. 
 
The key to user friendliness is patience to allow the seeds to ripen, allowing the tan- nins to relax. Through genetics, it was determined that this variety was the result of pollination of a Peloursin flower with Syrah pollen. Good news: very recently, a French vigneron has re-introduced Petite Sirah to France!