Petite Sirah is most commonly known as a ‘blending’ variety; a wine, rarely labeled on its own, which is added to a blend to contribute a characteristic the blend lacks. This is exactly the way in which I was introduced to Petite Sirah. I was making wine for the J. Lohr winery in San Jose, and each year they crushed Petite Sirah from Wilson Farms in Clarksburg. The resulting wine was a gem. It had deep jet black color, rich full blackberry flavors and just a moderate amount of tannin. I used it in many blends; adding structure to one, color to another or a significant dose of dark fruit to a third. It was a delight to have as a blending option; a ‘secret weapon’ capable of lifting a marginal wine to stardom. After just a couple of years of producing my own wine, I couldn’t help but want to share my discovery of Clarksburg Petite Sirah.
It took a couple of years to find a source of grapes. The Wilson Family was committed to selling all of their Petite Sirah to Lohr, but they introduced me to Enver Salman, and we released our first Petite Sirah from the 2000 vintage. Our 2001 effort won best varietal Petite Sirah at the 2003 State Fair and the next year our 2003 Petite Sirah from the Enver Salman Vineyard in Clarksburg earned Best of Show Red Wine honors. You may have noticed that Clarksburg has been mentioned a couple of times is this description. It is an important distinction because Petite Sirah can produce an aggressively tannic and horribly astringent wine, but Petite Sirah grown in the Clarksburg appellation has what I call all of the assets and none of the liabilities of Petite Sirah; big flavors and soft tannins. It is immensely satisfying that our style of Petite Sirah has been embraced by the marketplace. Petite Sirah has been our bestselling wine for over a decade.
