The next wine up for consideration during the 12 Days of Petite Sirah is from Twisted Oak Winery in the Sierra Foothills. In addition to focusing on making hand crafted wines, the folks at Twisted Oak Winery are clearly out to simultaneously have a good time while they're at it. One example of this, is the fact that in addition to wine, their website offers rubber chickens.
The Twisted Oak 2005 Petite Sirah is 100% varietal. All of the fruit was sourced from Frog's Tooth Vineyard in Calaveras County. 25% of the wine spent time in new American oak, with the balance in a combination of one year, two year and neutral oak. The suggested retail price for this wine is $24.
The nose of this Petite Sirah is dominated by plum and underscored by subtler baker's spice and cedar notes. The flavors from the first sip on are of deep, dark, brooding fruit. Blueberry is the focal point of the mid-palate. Once this wine opens up (decanting is recommended) it's a smooth, silky Petite Sirah with medium tannins but no rough edges to speak of. Vanilla and white pepper dot the finish nicely. The fruit on this wine is pretty big and fairly bold, but not overwhelmingly so. There is also a nice balance to it. I had this with a Blue-Cheese Burger with caramelized onions and it matched up perfectly.
For $24 Twisted Oak Winery is offering a well made Petite Sirah, full of true varietal character. Checking out their web page is recommended as they offer low cost flat rate shipping on orders. In addition to that, their website is worth visiting for their obvious sense of humor too.
Check out PS I love You, the Advocacy Group dedicated to this great varietal.
Coming Up: 12 Days of Petite Sirah Continues!!
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