History Stains Powerful Petite Sirah

Paul Gregutt Special to The Seattle Times

Attention, all you who Durif, and obscure Rhone love a big, brawny varietal that is a cross bruiser of a red wine. between syrah and an even more obscure grape named The PS I Love You peloursin. Durif was the Second Annual “Blue Tooth surname of the man credited Tour” is coming our way. with developing the hybrid. PS stands for petite sirah, With that slim pedigree, and the blue tooth part is California’s Rhone Rangers self-explanatory once you’ve recently voted it into their seen (and tasted) the wines. club. Petite sirah is a grape Up until the 1960s, with a history. Its wines are the popularity of petite sirah a striking blue-black, as among growers had mostly dark (and almost as thick) to do with its remarkably as blueberry jam. It has a dark color and thick powerful palate of mixed tannins, which made it a berries, mostly blueberries, terrifi c ingredient in hearty blackberries and black burgundy-style blends. It cherries. It often has tooth-staining tannins, which was often a principal component in so-called can be diffi cult to manage, so that many of the “fi eld blends – an old winemaking shortcut widely wines have a rough, rustic fi nish – what one friend practiced at the time. A fi eld bland might include describes as “scrapey.” up to a dozen different types of grapes: petite sirah, The grape has fallen from favor in recent carignane, grenache, barbera, alicante, mourvedre, years, but for decades was widely known throughout zinfandel, and so on. California, where it was a vital component in hearty Unlike today’s vineyards, with their neatly red blends. Much of the limited production of petite ordered rows of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, sirah today comes from those few remaining old merlot, etc., nothing was kept separate back then. vineyards. All the vines were mixed and harvested together and It was only within the past few years that thrown into the vat together; hence the term fi eld scientists determined exactly what it is, though it blend. has been known for some time that what it is not The fi rst varietal wines labeled petite sirah syrah (although there is a parental connection). were made by Concannon and Souvrain in the early Recent DNA testing has proved that most of 1960s, though Louis Martini had made a Duriff back petite sirah planted in California is identical to in the 1940s, which may have been the same

www.psiloveyou.org thing. It was Dr. Carole Meredith, who also petite sirah (1961 vintage), sent along a newspaper pioneered DNA testing of zinfandel, who fi nally clipping from October 1933 with a photo of aboxcar sorted it all out a few years ago. full of “fi ne wines, unmedicated and undiluted, from As she writes on the PS I Love You website, the famous Concannon vineyards.” These wines “Petite sirah in California is indeed the same as were the fi rst to reach Seattle in anticipation of the the French variety, Durif. We confi rmed this by repeal of Prohibition. The odds are that some of the comparing the DNA profi le of California petite sirah wine in that boxcar was petite sirah. with authentic sample of Durif from the French Zin lovers will note that many of California’s national variety collection.” richest, ripest zins contain a percentage of petite Meredith goes on to explain that, typical of sirah, which adds color and tannin, as well as richer old vineyards, many petite sirah plantings are not fl avors of black cherry to the jammy raspberry taste 100 percent petite sirah, “just as not 100 percent of the zin. If you like your zins big and meaty, you of the vines in old zinfandel vineyards are not will very likely fi nd petite sirahs worth exploring. zinfandel.” Several dozen California wineries produce Nonetheless, the bureaucrats who control petite sirah, and a few – notably Concannon, the federal wine labeling laws have decreed that Foppiano, Guenoc, and Bogle – make several as far as they are concerned, petite sirah and Durif versions. Prices start around $10 and can go as high are synonymous. So it be. And though you may as $50. When made in an over-the-top style, petite occasionally see it misspelled as petit sirah, petite sirah can be dreadfully astringent, though it is rarely syrah or petit syrah, the correct spelling is petite as hot and alcoholic as some zins and even syrahs. sirah. The best of the petites achieve a smooth balance There is an interesting Puget Sound that showcases their plush fruit, yet tames the tough connection to the PS story. Jim Concannon, who tannins. maintains that he bottled the world’s fi rst varietal

As seen in. . . The Seattle Times, December 1, 2004