Petite Sirah holiday blind tasting party

Sally and I visited her family in Houston, Texas for Christmas and used the opportunity to host a dinner party at her Mom’s house. Joining us were Sally’s Mom Mabeth, Sally's brother Greg and his wife Jennifer, and our friends Will and Sherri.

The grape of the evening was Petite Sirah and we blind tasted a few bottles from our collection. If you’re not familiar with this varietal, it’s known for being big and bold, with dark fruit flavors and high tannins.  

Our stellar lineup of Petite Sirahs ready for blind tasting 

The Wines

We started everyone off with a bottle of 2011 Cuvaison Solitaire Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a light and refreshing wine and paired nicely with prosciutto-wrapped melon we served as an appetizer. As we noted in a recent blog post, white wine can still be heartily enjoyed in the winter!

Next, we moved on the the Petite Sirahs. They were served blind side-by-side so they could be enjoyed and discussed without any preconceptions. 

Here’s the line-up:

• 2007 Vincent Arroyo Greenwood Ranch Petite Sirah
• 2007 Seghesio Home Ranch Petite Sirah
• 2007 Simi Petite Sirah 

The Food

The tasting started off with a cheese course: 

• Lemon basil feta spread
• Aged cheddar
• Bellavitano Merlot Wisconsin cow’s milk cheese 

Dinner consisted of molasses bourbon glazed beef tenderloin, scalloped potatoes, and green bean bundles wrapped in bacon. 

The Winner

This may have been our closest blind tasting contest yet. The Vincent Arroyo and the Simi each received three votes as the best. 

The Vincent Arroyo received high marks for its outstandingly smooth taste and pleasant fruit. It was clearly the favorite for drinking on its own.

The Simi earned its votes for pairing so well with both the cheese and the meal. It was especially spot on with the lemon basil feta spread.

Everyone enjoyed the Seghesio, but agreed it wasn’t in the same class as the other two.

I was the only one who wasn’t drinking blind since I had served the wines, but I got to cast the deciding vote since it was a tie. For me, the Vincent Arroyo was my favorite.

This was the second win for Vincent Arroyo at a Share the Bottle wine party. They were also the top pick in our Cabernet Sauvignon blind tasting in 2012.

From left to right: Me (Jeff), sister-in-law Jennifer, Sally's brother Greg, Sally, Sally's mom Mabeth, Sherri, and Will.

Oscar Party: movies, wagering, and wine!

We used last Sunday's Academy Awards as an excuse to throw a party that had a little something for everyone: movies, wagering, and wine. It was a fun time, and the company of good friends and the delicious wine more than made up for my poor showing in our Oscar pool.

Movies

Sally and I are huge movie fans and try to see all of the Best Picture nominees every year. Even for our friends who are more casual movie watchers or those that don't see movies at all (a.k.a. parents), the Academy Awards is a fun show to watch with other people. There's humor, entertainment, and plenty to talk about.

Wagering

We ran a simple pool where each person chipped in $5 to submit their picks for each award. Our pool is equally weighted, so a correct guess for Best Picture is worth the same as getting the Sound Editing category right. Second place gets their money back, first place takes the rest of the pot, and last place gets a bottle of cheap wine to serve as a reminder that they need to stick to the basics.

Wine

It's a gathering, so why not drink some wine?! We served four wines blind at pairing stations and had our friends vote for their favorite. All of them were favorites we'd discovered on our wine adventures that retailed for less than $20 and could easily be found in most local wine shops. (We got ours at BevMo.) Here are the wines, the pairings, and the rankings.

4th Place: 2010 Line 39 Petite Sirah
This is a very tasty wine, but despite the deep purple color its flavor is a little light for Petite Sirah. Our guests had trouble identifying this grape and wished for a bit more tannin. Nonetheless, it was still considered enjoyable.

Paired with aged cheddar, manchego, and mini tacos (chicken and pork)

3rd Place: 2009 Kendall-Jackson Vinter's Reserve Chardonnay
According to Kendall-Jackson's website, this is the #1 selling Chardonnay in America. It's a good Chardonnay for it's price point with some crisp acidity that pairs well with food, though our guests were a little biased against the varietal.

Paired with double cream gouda, Monterey jack, and roasted chicken purses

2nd Place: 2010 Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir
This wine drew rave reviews and several guests announced their intentions to acquire a bottle or two. It's definitely a California-style Pinot Noir with a lot of fruit, but it is flavorful, smooth, and goes well with a variety of foods. It was also the winner of our 2010 HalloWine blind tasting, so we had to bring it back to defend it's crown. 

Paired with creamy Havarti, Harvarti with dill, and beef brisket sandwiches

1st Place: NV Roederer Estate Brut Sparkling White Wine
It must have been a champenoise kind of night, because the Roederer Estate edged out the Cycles Gladiator by just one vote. This wine was a crowd pleaser with a crisp taste and notes of pear to go with the bubbles.

Paired with cream cheese topped with pineapple and apricot preserves and mini chicken egg rolls

Somehow, we managed to have such a good time we forgot to take any pictures. Here's one quickly staged photo of the four wines:

Line 39 Petite Sirah

People often are fooled by the name of the grape, petite sirah. Contrary to what you may think, this guy is anything but petite. The flavor profile of petite sirah is similar to a mix between Zinfandel and Syrah. While full-bodied and spicy, it is rarely as jammy as Zinfandel. They tend to be big, muscular, wines rich in taste and color, and pair well with stronger meats (beef, game, lamb) and spicy sauces. With high tannin levels and deep pigments, petite sirah is an excellent blending grape.  It also can make an impressive wine on its own.  

Earlier this week we joined friends at one of our favorite local wine bars, Trisler’s.  It was raining and quite chilly (rare for San Diego), and the weather put me in the mood for a big red. My eye was immediately drawn to the Line 39 Petite Sirah.  Line 39 is produced in Lake County, CA, an emerging wine region located north of Napa Valley and the North Coast appellation.  Line 39 refers to the latitude where many of the great wine growing regions of the world are found.  And this night, I discovered a great petite sirah.

This wine is full of rich ripe fruits, elegant and not overly complex, with a wonderful long finish. Unlike some other petite sirah’s that can be a bit heavy, this one was very drinkable on its own, and paired excellent with our platter of salami, cheese, and grapes.  It went exceptionally well with Manchego!

I fell in love with this wine – it was a perfect pairing for the occasion, food, and weather!  When I started researching where I could purchase more, I fell head over heels.  The suggested retail price for this little gem is only $10!  Based on taste, I expected it to be priced in the $20-$30 range. It is available at BevMo, and the winery website lists distributors (both US and International). If you find it, spend the $10 – you’ll be glad you did!

Cheers!

First impression: Paso Robles Wine Country

Our recent wine trip brought us to several California wine regions for the first time, including Paso Robles. We left Paso Robles with two distinct thoughts.

First, why did it take us so long to visit this awesome wine region? Second, we're going to be in trouble because we want to come back soon. Real soon.

Here are some of the highlights from our three day visit:

Wineries

Wild Horse Winery was our first stop in Paso Robles. They have a wide range of wines but are best known for their Pinot Noir. Their Wild Horse Pinot Noir is distributed outside the winery and is a very good, fruit forward California Pinot. They also make several other outstanding Pinot Noirs under their limited production Unbridled label and their Cheval Sauvage reserve program. Wild Horse is a must stop if you like Pinot Noir, though we tasted some other terrific varietals too. For example, we aren't big Merlot fans but thought their Merlot would be a perfect compliment to a nice steak dinner. 

Barrel tasting at Cypher WineryCypher Winery is worth a visit for their "Barrel Comparison" wine tasting. You drink the same wine directly from two different barrels to experience how barrels can influence the flavor and character of the wine. We tried Malbec, Petite Verdot, Petite Sirah, and Tempranillo. The Petite Sirah was particularly interesting. The wine from one barrel tasted a bit too fruity while the wine from the other barrel was too tannic. However, when a splash from each barrel was blended in our glasses the wine suddenly had terrific balance and character.

It was a fun way to imagine how a winemaker tries to achieve the perfect flavor and balance.

Hank the Herman Story wine dogHerman Story might be our new favorite winery. Winemaker Russell From makes awesome stuff with deep, bold flavors that somehow escape all the messy blasts of alcohol and tannin that often accompany big flavors in wine. He is also very focused with only four wines making up his list of current releases: a Viognier/Roussanne blend, a Granache, and two Syrahs. The wine room is the front portion of a small warehouse in downtown Paso Robles, but the complete lack of pretentiousness is part of the charm. Just be careful - time can move pretty fast when you are chatting with a winemaker who is happy to keep pouring throughout the conversation! 

Other honorable mentions from our visit to Paso Robles include Niner Wine Estate, Anglim Winery, and Tobin James. Better make Tobin James your last visit of the day. Their wine is decent, but they make a lot of stuff and they'll keep pouring as long as you keep drinking. It can get a bit wild out there late in the afternoon!

Dining

Farmstand 46Paso Robles didn't strike us as a haven for foodies, but there were a couple of cool places worth mentioning. We had lunch one day at Farmstand 46 which is in the same complex as Cypher. They are best described as an upscale deli that features a lot of locally sourced food. 

We also had a wonderful dinner at the Enoteca Restaurant and Bar at La Bellasera Hotel and Suites, a hotel restaurant that actually brings in the locals. Tip: Enoteca waives their corkage fee if you bring in a bottle of local wine, so we enjoyed a bottle of Zinfandel that we purchased from Kenneth Volk Vineyards.

Downtown Paso Robles has a cluster of small cafes around their main square. While they don't qualify as gourmet, a small cafe can be the perfect place for lunch or dinner after a long day of wine tasting!

Accomodations

We stayed at La Bellasera Hotel and Suites. All of their rooms are large and very comfortable. The hotel was also located in the center of the Paso Robles Wine Country, so it was easy to get to all of the wineries from there. The only drawback was there weren't many restaurants within walking distance, except for their very nice Enoteca which is on the property. If you don't mind driving to dinner, this hotel is a perfect home base for a visit to Paso Robles.

2004 Hess Small Block Series Petite Sirah

Sally and I are huge fans of Hess wines. They seem to make everything really, really good. Perhaps our favorites are from the Small Block Series where the winemaker makes a limited quantity of very special wine.

We recently enjoyed a wonderful bottle of 2004 Hess Small Block Series Petite Syrah. This was a special occasion wine for us, so we brought it with us to Fleming's Prime Steakhouse to celebrate the five year anniversary of my company, Toister Performance Solutions. Fleming's always offers terrific food and service and this wine fit in perfectly.

The taste on this thing was incredible. It started very smooth and dark with lots of dark fruit (I'm thinking black cherry) and a hint of tobacco. In a great wine like this the flavors all stay together and it's almost dangerous because you aren't hit with a lot of alcohol, so you might not realize it's there. The finish was a blast of tannin that was perfect with a mouthful of steak. The wine was terrific by itself, with our mushroom ravioli appetizer, with our steaks, and even with the cheesecake for dessert. Yum!

The sad part about the Small Block Series is Hess doesn't make the same varietals from year to year. This one isn't on the market at the moment, so snag a bottle if you can find one!