*disclaimer: I received the bottle for review from the California Wine Club
Also sorry for the cheesy title, it was all I could come up with, haha!
Having had the Sauvignon Blanc from Pedroncelli a couple of times, and liking it quite a bit, I was excited to see that the California Wine Club sent me some Pedroncelli wines to review, both of which I have never had. The one I decided to try first was the 2004 Dry Creek Valley, “Family Vineyards”, Petite Sirah.
Currently operated by 3rd generation Pedroncelli’s, the winery is located at the Northern border of the Dry Creek Valley appellation in Sonoma County. Growing grapes and making wine since 1927, Pedroncelli now has an annual production of around 60,000 cases. Trying to stay regionally as well as terroir focused with their wines, whatever isn’t sourced from their 101 acres of estate grapes comes from vineyards within a ten to twelve mile radius, a lot of which are owned by relatives.
Harvested in early September, the grapes were aged in both French and American oak for 13 months after fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The wine garners the “Family Vineyard” designation because the vineyard, which has been provided grapes to the winery since 1940, is owned and managed by the Pedroncelli’s niece, Carol Bushnell.
Color – Deep purple
Nose – Blackberry, black currant, roasted marshmallow
Taste – Black cherry (a lot), Hershey’s chocolate syrup, dry herbs
Mouthfeel – Medium to full body, very round and lush in the mouth with surprisingly dusty tannins at the finish, hint of spiciness
Finish – long and rich
Megan and I drank this with our ultra good, super gigantic Stromboli from Candelas and I have to say this is a great pizza wine. Very rich, with lots of fruit and the right amount of tannins at the back end that snap your palate back into reality from the fruity, chocolaty goodness. Decent acidity keeps the wine from being to overbearing with it’s richness but this wine is definitely for fans of New World style wines. That being said, it is made in the style, that I feel, is what Petite Sirah should taste like and I was very pleased with it.
From what I read on the Pedroncelli website and what the flyer from California Wine Club said, this is no longer available from the winery and is very hard to find so I feel lucky that the CWC sent it to me. If you’re in the mood for a fruity, rich, hard to find Petite Sirah check this one out. I think even if you are not in the California Wine Club you can still buy wines from their website, and it looks like this one is on sale for $10.99 (just checked), not bad.
Cheers!
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