Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

This week we have the wonderful Petite Syrah grape as the vareietal for the Friday Flights. Don’t get this confused with Syrah or Shiraz, since that is apparently the job of the winemakers and botanists and scientists (oh my!).

We know that winemakers, at least in the U.S. produce Petite Syrah under its own varietal name, yet my own “trustworthy” wine encyclopedia states that Petite Syrah is just a synonym for Syrah. I had also heard from a former coworker that it meant “Little Sarah” in French. (Which is only half right. . .”petite” being “small” in French. This guy also pronounced Viognier as though it were Klingon). After reading some new reports, I saw that the vineyards of the world are not set in black-and-white (or red and white and rose’ and sparkling), and that some winemakers were actually unaware what was really growing in their vineyards.

Some say Petite Syrah is actually the almost-extinct French grape Durif, and scientists say it is the hybrid of Syrah and Peloursin, and some winemakers found that it’s all three growing side-by-side, bottled together. There have also been Petite Syrah vineyards mislabeled as Syrah. And in the past there have been nurseries that have sold “Petite Syrah” vines that could have been Durif, Zinfandel, “true” Syrah, Alicante Bouschet, Valdeguie, Gamay, Mondeuse, or others.

So what’s in the glass? Um. . .Squashed Grapes. . .?

Yes, it’s all just tasty juice, anyway. We can at least pretend these guys know what they’re doing, and hopefully they’ll get their story straight by the next Petite Syrah tasting.

So Friday, January 23rd, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Petite Syrah – By Any Other Name, It’s Just Tasty Juice!:
L.A. Cetto 1999 Petite Syrah, Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico
Parduci 2000 Petite Syrah, California
Jewel 2001 Petite Syrah, California
Hidden Cellars 1998 Petite Syrah, Mendocino County, California
David Bruce 2002 Petite Syrah, Central Coast, California

And the Extra 2:
Foppiano 2001 Petite Syrah, Russian River Valley, California
Markham 1999 Petite Syrah, Napa Valley, California

Considering that Petite Syrah is almost exclusively grown in California, this also counts as a tour of California through 5 separate vintages! Pretty exciting stuff, hey?

A good deal at $10 for the first 5, and $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.
Hope to see you here!
Seize the Wine!
M

Next week is Australian Reds!