Navarro Vineyards - 2005 Petite Sirah

2005 Petite Sirah
Mendocino
- (750 ml) Sold Out!

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Character building

Rosewood vineyards is an old-timer's vineyard: a field blend of two varieties, Petite Sirah and Mourvèdre, which were planted decades ago. The Petite Sirah is further divided into two lots; one from vines planted almost eighty years ago and a second lot from vines half that old. In late October 2005, Troy and Tia, the owners of Rosewood, graciously picked the Petite Sirah as two separate lots for Navarro so that we could compare the old and older vines. Harvesting was further complicated by leaving the Mourvèdre on the vine for an additional week so that we could pick it at a proper ripeness for a separate wine. The two Petite pickings were de-stemmed, then fermented in open top bins as separate lots which the cellar crew punched-down by hand to keep the tannins supple.

Troy Satterwhite teaches his son how to prune the block with vines that are close to 80 years old.

Troy and Tia in the "old block". The vineyard was planted in two varieties, a common practice in early goblet trained vineyards. They've marked the vines and harvest the Petite Sirah separately for Navarro.

The two Petite lots finished fermentation and were aged in French barrels. In July 2006 Navarro's tasting panel evaluated them and decided that the wine from the eighty year old vines was more deeply flavored than the wine from the middle-aged vines. The wine from the younger vines was blended into our Navarrouge but this richer old-vine lot was racked into clean French oak barrels and then allowed to rest another year in our cellars before bottling in August 2007. Declassifying one lot means Navarro has only half the Petite to sell but its lingering flavors are bottled proof of an old vine's power to produce wine of character. Silver Medal winner..

Specifications

Harvested: Oct. 25, 2005
Sugars at harvest: 24.0° Brix
Bottled: Aug. 15, 2007
Cases produced: 165
Alcohol: 13.6%
Titratable acidity: 6.7 g/L
pH: 3.79

2001 Petite Sirah

Another Kind of Wine MagnificenceThe braised short ribs, perfectly juicy, meat falling off their bones, called for red wine, but which? We briefly considered serving and aged Pommard Pezzeroles from de Montille out of the cellar, but decided the short ribs need heartier wine. Out of Carl’s cellar came a 2001 Navarro Petite Sirah (Which sent him back a whopping $23 from the winery), a wine so surprisingly elegant, I guessed it was an aged Loire red. An older Mouton or Latour might have tasted great here, but again, the complexity in these wines may have been blindsided by the intense stewed flavors on the table. The Petite Sirah, after decanting and hour or tow, was a perfect fit. - Randy Kemner, The Wine Country, April 2006.

1996 Petite Sirah

A front fruit forward soft tannin plum, blueberry well rounded mouthful of nicely balanced, slightly licorice, long lasting mouthful of wonderful juice. (Why is) this a keeper buy? Right now, doing quite well with big fruit, long back of the tongue and body to handle any beef or hearty chicken dish. - Bill Casey, Harrington's West Coast Wine, May 22, 2001.