Napa Valley's Trinitas Cellars is the next stop as the 12 Days of Petite Sirah continues. Their winery and thus their wines are all about a lifestyle. Sun, Soil and Humanity are the 3 ingredients they point to in their quest for the perfect wines. Tim & Steph Busch founded Trinitas Cellars in 2000 so it's still a relatively new endeavor. They make a wide array of different wines aside from the Petite Sirah's I'm covering today.
The three wines I'm looking at actually represent 2 different appellations. One is the 2004 Russian River Valley Petite Sirah. The other two are both the 2004 and 2005 Old Vine Petite Sirah.
The 2004 Russian River Petite Sirah spent times in both neutral and new oak. Suggested retail price for the Russian River Petite is $27.
This wine opens with a nose of big blueberry notes underscored by vanilla. This wine evolved very quickly in the glass and didn't require decanting. Jammy berry fruit comes out and carries through to the finish accompanied by lots of spice notes. White pepper, nutmeg and more vanilla amongst those spices. Within the world of Petite Sirah's this tends towards medium bodied. It's a layered, complex offering with it's cool Russian River credentials shining through. This wine will stand up to bigger foods but is adaptable enough to match up with a fairly wide array of things.
The Trinitas 2004 Old Vine Lodi Petite Sirah was aged in oak for 14 months. 15% in new French oak, 15% new American oak and the balance in neutral oak. The suggested retail price for this wine is $22.
The 2004 Old Vine has an absolutely huge nose of chocolate covered blackberry fruit. The first couple of sips reveal the tartness often evident in Petite Sirah early on. This offering needs to be decanted for at least an hour at this point in it's lifespan to get full enjoyment out of it. After breathing for awhile this wines starts showing it's charms. It's a rich, full bodied wine with dusty, earthy notes evident throughout. Cedar notes emerge at first along with jammy berry. The mid-palate has an absolute avalanche of mocha on it which leads into a long white pepper laden, spicy, earthy finish underscored by a cherry liqueur note. This wine has firm tannins and will match up with the boldest foods you can find.
The Trinitas 2005 Old Vine Lodi Petite Sirah was aged in oak for 14 months. 15% in new French oak, 15% new American oak and the balance in neutral oak. The suggested retail price for this wine is $22.
The first thing that becomes apparent about the Trinitas 2005 Old Vine Lodi Petite Sirah is that it's more immediately accessible than the 2004. Decanting this wine is also recommended but it unleashes it's layers and charms a lot more easily than the 2004. Dark berry fruit comes out in droves from the nose through the mid-palate. At that point a strong kirsch liquer note becomes the dominate characteristic. It's accompanied by nutmeg spice note that carry through the finish which has more sweet berry fruit that lingers nicely for an above average finish. As with the 2004 Old Vine this wine will match up with very big and bolds foods.
These three Petite Sirah's are impressive for a variety of reasons. The 2004 Russian River offering is an immediately appealing wine that opens up quickly and offers good complexity. It should age well for several years but I'd expect it to be the shortest lived of the three. The two Old Vine selections have as many differences as what they have in common. The 2005 again offers immediate pleasure our of the bottled. It does evolve and become more complex, changing several times over the course of an evening. It should have a decade of positive evolution ahead of it, assuming proper storage. The 2004 Old Vine is for me the most impressive of the trio. Starting out as the most reticent of them once it fully opens up it simply has more layers and complexities than the other two. While it's drinkng well now I expect it do improve dramatically in the next few years and beyond. There's every reason to think this wine has at least 15 years of life ahead of it. Kudos to Trinitas Cellars for offering several distinct, well crafted, food friendly Petite Sirah's.
Check out PS I love You, the Advocacy Group dedicated to this great varietal.
12 Days of Petite Sirah Continues!! 10 More Petite's To Go!!
Please take a moment to vote for my blog.