Wine Tasting at all FOUR locations
Come taste 2011 Girard Petite Sirah
January 11from 11am-4pm.
(each store will also have other wines out to taste)
We feature either a grape or a wine region each week at our stores. We will give you some background information on the grape or region and feature a wine that highlights what we are featuring. We will taste that wine on Saturday at all four of our locations. We will post it here in our blog and send it out in our emails - click here to sign up for our emails
On our blog, click on the label "Education" and you can read all of the education articles (see the right column under the heading "labels".
Grape: Petite Sirah
The grape was first developed in the 1870s in France's Rhône region, the result of a cross between Syrah and a relatively minor Rhône variety, Peloursin. This rationale for this cross was to give Syrah a greater ability to resist mildew. Even though the origins of this grape are in France, Californiais the place to look for the best expressions of Petite Sirah. The "Petite" in the name refers not to the size of the vines but rather to the size of the grapes. In fact, the high skin to juice ratio that accompanies the small berries allows Petite Sirah to produce wines with high tannins and acidity, components that give them the ability to age well.
For a number of years, Petite Sirah was primarily used as a blending grape, thanks to its deep color and fairly intense tannins. Petite Sirah is frequently blended in to Zinfandel for added complexity, body, and to tone down the tendency of zins toward "jammy" fruit.
More recently, the grape has been bottled as a single varietal wine. On its own, Petite Sirah forms wines with dense blackberry fruit character, mixed with black pepper notes, licorice and smoked meats.
Come taste one of our favorite Petite Sirah this weekend
2011 Girard Petite Sirah Napa Valley CA...$21.99 93/100 The Wine Spectator
Will be tasted at all 4 stores.
Grape: Petite Sirah
The grape was first developed in the 1870s in France's Rhône region, the result of a cross between Syrah and a relatively minor Rhône variety, Peloursin. This rationale for this cross was to give Syrah a greater ability to resist mildew. Even though the origins of this grape are in France, Californiais the place to look for the best expressions of Petite Sirah. The "Petite" in the name refers not to the size of the vines but rather to the size of the grapes. In fact, the high skin to juice ratio that accompanies the small berries allows Petite Sirah to produce wines with high tannins and acidity, components that give them the ability to age well.
For a number of years, Petite Sirah was primarily used as a blending grape, thanks to its deep color and fairly intense tannins. Petite Sirah is frequently blended in to Zinfandel for added complexity, body, and to tone down the tendency of zins toward "jammy" fruit.
More recently, the grape has been bottled as a single varietal wine. On its own, Petite Sirah forms wines with dense blackberry fruit character, mixed with black pepper notes, licorice and smoked meats.
Come taste one of our favorite Petite Sirah this weekend
2011 Girard Petite Sirah Napa Valley CA...$21.99 93/100 The Wine Spectator
Will be tasted at all 4 stores.
