My Recent Education on Petite Sirah

We don't drink much Petite Sirah in our home unless it comes with a blend of other grape varieties, so I know very little about the variety. Recently, while reading the August 2020 issue of Wine Business Monthly, I came across an article written by Lance Cutler called Varietal Focus: Petite Sirah. This is a fun fact that I learned: French grape botanist and breeder named François Durif found this new varietal in a vineyard planted with Peloursin. While he knew one of the parents to be Peloursin, the other parent, the pollinating parent, was a mystery to him.

Nevertheless, when you're the discoverer of a new variety, you can name it after yourself, and this cross was called Durif. The advantage of this new variety was that it was highly resistant to downy mildew, but because it had tight bunches, was prone to rot. So, it fell out of favor in France.
In 1884, Charles McIver imported this variety for his Linda Vista Vineyard in Alameda County. The small berries provided a high skin-to-juice ratio, leading to inky-colored wines with monster tannins. The vines were vigorous, produced huge crops and thrived in California’s dry climate.
Through time, the grape known as Durif became known as Petite Sirah. Many sites credit this renaming of Durif to Petite Sirah to Charles McIver. It became very popular in California and was used mainly as a blending grape. In the 1890's California was hit with phylloxera which wiped out many of the Syrah vines, but the Petite Sirah managed to survive. Petite Sirah with it's tougher skin and smaller berries continued to hang on during Prohibition as the grape of choice to ship to home winemakers on the east coast.³
In 1999, Carole Meredith et al. did the DNA parentage to identify that Petite Sirah in California is identical to the variety called Durif and the parentage was a cross between Syrah and Peloursin.⁴ Peloursin is a very old French variety from the Isere region of France, on the east side of the Rhône River. Syrah is the ancient noble variety from which the great Northern Rhône wines of Côte Rôtie and Hermitage are made.⁵
All this education has got me wanting to try some Petite Sirah. The Wine Business Monthly goes on to interview these following winemakers and their wine:

• 2017 Lytton Estate Petite Sirah John Olney from Ridge Vineyards: trying to bring elegance to a rustic variety focusing on bringing balance in terms of ripeness, acidity, fruit emphasis and especially tannin; aromatics reminiscent of its Syrah parentage, intense color and full-coated tannins, floral hints, mineral and wet stone
• 2016 Gianna’s Block Petite Sirah Nova Perrill from Foppiano Vineyards: striving to achieve dark color, tannins and deep fruit, in an elegant way, complexing components of coffee and cocoa for a lush mid-palate and a long finish
• 2016 Estate Petite Sirah Ross Reedy from Truett Hurst Winery: style goals are all about concentration and power with balance as the fruit and tannin work in perfect harmony; blue and black fruit with soft tannins, seamless movement from front to back with a long and lush finish
• 2013 Elevation Petite Sirah Mike Dunn from Retro Cellars: a cold-climate Petite Sirah, lower in alcohol and higher in acidity than warmer locations, enhancing black cherry and blue fruit components while taming tannins
• 2012 Napa Valley Petite Sirah Matt Sunseri from Aratas Wines: focus is to create wines with a firm mid-palate and muscular structure but with expressive redolent fruit that shows a little restraint, subtle, exotic spice imparted to wine from aging in Hungarian oak
• 2017 Royal Punishers Petite Sirah Tres Goetting from Biale Winery: trying to achieve a wine that is dark and ripe and layered with complexity, both aromatically and on the palate, bold fruit and tannin extraction, dense weight without any residual sugar, fine-grained tannins that are long without being hard, alcohol that is not too high and oak that lifts the fruit without over-powering it
• 2017 Petite Sirah Thompson Vineyard Stephen Searle from Jaffurs Winery: embraces the bold and brash nature of Petite Sirah, looking for dark, inky colors and big, ripe aromas and flavors with silky tannins; balance power and drinkability; use of American oak lends chocolate notes and mouthfeel
• 2015 Estate Petite Sirah Paul Frankle Sculpterra Winery: striving for big flavors with plenty of floral aspects highlighted by the lavender character that comes from our vineyard, tend towards high alcohol with a long finish
• 2016 Petite Sirah Aaron Jackson from Aaron Wines: vision is a Petite Sirah which is powerful, rich and highly extracted, but also balanced, look for ripe fruit with savory notes, spice and balanced acidity, goal is to make a “complete” wine, one that is true to the varietal yet has polished mouthfeel, a round mid-palate and a soft tannic finish that provides structure

References:
1. Lance Cutler, Varietal Focus: Petite Sirah, Wine Business Monthly, pg. 12-33, August, 2020.
2. Illustration from: Petite Sirah, Wine Oh.tv
3. Sean Ludford, The Joys of Petite Sirah, July 25, 2017.
4. Carole P. Meredith, John E. Bowers, Summaira Riaz, Vanessa Handley, Elizabeth B. Bandman, Gerald S. Dangl, The Identity and Parentage of the Variety Known in California as Petite Sirah, Am. J. Enol. Vitic., Vol. 50, No. 3, 1999.
5. PS I Love You.org, Petite Sirah.