This installment of Wine Blogging Wednesday is sponsored by Sonadora at Wannabe Wino, and she has picked the topic of Petite Sirah.
It just so happened that a few days after the Petite Sirah WBW #40 was announced, there was one on the tasting sheet at the Wine Cellar. After enjoying it quite a bit that night, we brought a home a bottle of the 2005 Peltier Station Petite Sirah ($16.95) to drink and write about for WBW.
A bit of Background on the wine –
The wine is from a single vineyard grown in Elk Grove which is at the Northern tip of the Lodi AVA. The vineyard is comprised of clay soil and receives a consistent breeze from the Sacramento River Delta that allows the grapes to achieve longer than normal hang times. After reaching a brix of 25.8 the grapes were whole cluster fermented for 2 weeks before heading into French oak barrels for aging.
Interestingly the name of the winery comes from its location on a 1900’s railroad spur that was used to carry fruit from packing sheds along or near Peltier Road.
My Tasting Notes –
Nose – Molasses, prune, suede, black currant, bacon
Taste – Blackberry, blueberry, little hint of cranberry
Mouthfeel – Extremely smooth, heavy rich texture in the mouth
Finish – Long, nice leathery feel on the tongue for quite a while after I swallowed
With its rich dark color the Peltier Station Petite Sirah lets you know it means business right off the bat. Even though it was a fairly fruit forward wine, the aromas and flavors continuted to develop over the hour that we drank it showing its complex nature. This is only the 3rd Petite Sirah I have had, other than ones I have tasted at wineries and wine shops and I have to say I am really enjoying the varietal.
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Anything Wine 
Hey John! Thanks for joining in for your first WBW!!! And am very glad you are liking the Petite Sirah, it’s such an unsung variety.
I am so glad you liked this wine! I almost bought it for WBW, but went with the Ehrhardt instead, which is from Clarksburg. At $17, I may pick up a few bottles…
I’ll have to check this one out. I’m a long-time fan of this grape, and back in the day, I could only get 2 or 3, so it’s nice to have so many choices now.
Glad you liked the wine, John.
Just a slight correction 🙂 The wine was age in 100% Stainless steel tanks, with 70% new French Oak segments. http://www.stavin.com. This segments is in 15lb “tea” bags, which get hanged inside the tank. There is a lot of reasons for using this technology, but to sum it up I will give a few reasons….
1. Wine react quicker with oak – 6month.
2. Ready to drink at the day it was bought.
3. More economical, which make it more affordable.
4. More consistantsy can be achieved (levels of oak can be adjust according to the vintage, example, more tannin year, add more oak, less tannin, less levels of oak.
5. With the addition of Micro Oxygenation, you get the same rounding of tannins, and binding of oak than what you get using a barrel, BUT, in only a third of the time.
The only down in this, to good to be true, style of wine making, is that you can not let this wine age more than 5 years. This NEW WORLD style of wine making is for making wine ready to drink TODAY….
Enjoy, and good luck
Your humble African American winemaker,
JC