An impending move has me clearing out my cellar. I’m starting a new job son in another state that has Mr. & Mrs. Barbarian moving to a new home very soon. As a result I haven’t bought very many wines of late, and have been very busy doing life-related things are not updating this blog much, if at all. Sorry.

However I’m tasting wines that I laid down for some reason or another a few years ago, one of which is this Parducci Petite Sirah from 2002. I suspect I purchased this about five years ago, likely for around ten bucks. I suspect this is the oldest Petite Sirah I’ve tasted in a long while and the time in the bottle had an unusual impact on the flavor of the wine. It settled down quite a bit from it’s bombastic youth, though still remains Dourif’s big fruit bomb. The bomb however had lost a few megatons and gained a bit of subtlety. I paired it with some boneless beef rib meat which Mrs. Barbarian had marinated with a bit too much red pepper in the mix, so it was hard to get a good fix on the wine due to the capsaicin overload. I really need to chase Mrs. Barbarian out of the kitchen with a butcher knife… or maybe a tape loop of Mel Gibson rants. Just about any other varietal would have been obliterated, but the Petite Sirah stood up to the spicy heat pretty well. Even a Zinfandel would have had trouble here, but the Parducci held its own. Still, it would have been better with something less incendiary on the Scoville Scale. Oh well.

Mrs. Barbarian made a Costco run today, and returned with several industrial-scale boxes filled with foodstuffs. At first I thought she was planning to load a C-130 headed for Haiti, but no… we’re supposed to eat it all. Conspicuously absent from the booty was any wine (Costco is where you’ll find our every-day wine choice, Cameron Hughes.) Thankfully I had stopped at our local grocer to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy on Friday and as always made a detour through the wine section to grab a few bottles. Dinner tonight was meant to make a dent in this huge food cache and Mrs. Barbarian cooked up some cornbread from a package the size of a pillowcase. Meanwhile I opened a gunny sack of broccoli flowerettes, and some (thankfully in a small package) bratwurst.

Food of this scale requires a big wine. A sledgehammer of a wine. No subtlety required. I reached for the Petite Sirah.

Concannon was the first winery to bottle Durif’s grape on its own, and the label proclaims it as “America’s First Petite Sirah.” It is also a 125 year old family-owned winery. This is a 2006 vintage Central Coast Petite Sirah. The label says “Limited Release”, which may be hyperbole if I was able to grab this for $11.25 ($15.99 retail, $12.49 with grocer’s loyalty card, $11.25 when combined with a multi-bottle discount!) at my podunk small-town grocery store.

It certainly is quite good though. When I first opened the bottle the nose was a little strange but that vanished quickly. In fact by mid-meal the wine seems to have lost all of it’s nose. That is OK though since it tastes wonderful. Big and broad-shouldered like a Petite Sirah should be, and easily able to stand up to the big flavors on the plate. Mrs. Barbarian liked it even more than I did, as I noted that after dinner there was maybe a glass-and-a-half left, and I sat down to write this review. I snapped the photo you see above (note: new cell phone… much better image quality from the camera!), then turned back to my computer to write; when I next turned to grab the bottle to read the label it was empty. I heard her come in and leave the room, but did not turn to look. She obviously slurped up the rest of this nice wine.

www.concannonvineyard.com

I’ll let you in on a not-so-hidden secret: While I like wine quite a bit, I don’t know much about wine. When I sit down to share what I thought about any particular wine it is usually a bit after the fact. I snap a photo of the wine, and jot some drunken notes on my not-so-smartphone. I can recall the reactions of those who are with me at the time, and can certainly remember if I liked it or not. But anything more factual is usually conjured from the vast reaches of the Internet via Google. I like to provide links should you, my dear reader, wish to go out and buy some of this stuff yourself. I never read what other reviewers have said about a wine… I honestly do not care. Besides I find all the wine-snob terminology frustrating as hell. I swear, if I ever actually hear somebody say something like “essence of blackberries and tobacco” in my presence I’m likely to bury my forks in their eye sockets (salad fork in the left eye of course!) and drink all their wine myself. I’ve been known for other barbaric, though not-so-dramatic acts… for instance taking empty wine bottles home from fancy restaurants. I do this as a reminder to myself of how good the wine was, and a way for me to catalog it later for you. Mrs. Barbarian is always shocked and embarrassed by this behavior of mine … though she hasn’t yet said “oaky” or “shoe leather” yet while at a fancy bistro with me. She thinks walking away with an empty, and then (shock! horror!) leaving it sitting at my desk for weeks on end is “tacky.” Of course my retort to her is “you picked me… what does that say about your judgement?”

Not long ago Mrs. Barbarian & I visited our favorite eatery and as my eye wandered over the wine list it fell upon something I’d never seen before. A Petite Syrah from the Pacific Northwest. I had to try it. The proprietor of this place loves to present hard to find, usually very unusual wines. Sure, he has a big list of safe choices for those lacking in courage, but there are enough whack-jobs like myself among his clientele that oddball wines and offbeat varietals are always available on the periphery of his list. I suspect that in the case of this wine, he only had a handful, if even a case. It was there one week, and gone the next. I’m glad I stumbled into enjoy it while it was available.

Despite the fact that I kept the bottle, this Petite Syrah remains a mystery.

The front label says only:

Fallöbst
Petite Syrah
Zephyr Ridge Vineyard
Alc. 14.2% by volume

2006

The back label continues the enigma:

I’m Just Sayin’
I have eaten
the grapes
that were on
the vine
………………..
and which
you were probably
saving
for harvest
……………….
Forgive me
they were so delicious
so sweet
and so oval

PRODUCED AND BOTTLED BY FALLOBST
MILTON FREEWATER, OREGON

All that Google can tell me is that Fallöbst winery does exist in Milton-Freewater (a town not far from Walla Walla, Washington), has paid taxes, and has distributed this wine to a few places in the Pacific Northwest (how it got here to me is yet another mystery!) Zephyr Ridge Vineyard appears to be in Horse Heaven Hills, which is in Washington state in the Columbia River Valley. Beyond that this wine retains all manner of mystery.

I can not recall what I paid for it, likely around $35, which means if it was on a store shelf it would cost around $15—$19. That my friend would be a bargain because this is a wonderful Petite Syrah. Big, bold, smooth, and able to stain your teeth beyond any hope of a career on television.

The Vinagoth loves him some Petite Sirah. While all manner of grapes grace these pages, when it comes to sitting down for some serious swilling your author oftentimes chooses the delectable delights of Dr. Durif. A considerable amount of the best Petite Sirah I’ve consumed originates from the Paso Robles area of California and some recent travels found me in that very town. I was traveling by car and Paso Robles fell at the half-way point of our two-day drive. While the town itself is not much to behold (think “Sunburns and Tractor Pulls!”) the vineyards of the region produce some damn good fruit.

My traveling companion and I went out for dinner upon our arrival. He chose the place, I chose the wine. He chose a local pizza joint, then informed me that he doesn’t drink. The things I have to endure! The pizza place was nice, with a big brick oven and a huge choice of wines, all local. We ordered a medium pepperoni, and I requested jalapenos and garlic on my half. (what can I say… I’m a barbarian!) Afterwards I walked over to the huge array of local wines and spotted this Petite Sirah, the only Durif in the whole display! I ordered a bottle, and the nice lady behind the counter handed me an open bottle and a glass.

Peachy Canyon 2005 Petite Sirah, Paso Robles, CA ~$18/bottle

Love this wine. Big. Tasty. Just like a Petite Sirah should be. It even stood up to the killer death barbaric pizza… well almost. You see they mangled the order and forgot the garlic, so we were given another pizza for free. The first had the jalapenos, but not the garlic. The peppers themselves were killer-hot. Like wines, you never know what you’ll get with a Jalapeno. Sometimes they are sweet and mild, sometimes, once bitten they will burn through matter like the blood of a H. R Giger Alien, seeking the gravitational core of the planet. The Jalapenos of Paso Robles fall into the latter end of the Scoville Scale. I had to peel off quite a few of the damn things to be able to taste anything afterwards. Very few wines, especially reds, can stand up to a Capsaicin clobbering such as the one I was enduring. The Peachy held up “ok” with plenty of ice water “palate cleansers” thrown over the tongue to douse the wildfire burning there.

I re-corked the bottle and brought it back to the hotel, where I assumed I’d have another glass before turning in. The stuff was so good I polished the whole bottle off that night…

Imagine then that you find out that somebody you know owns an old Ferrari or Jaguar and offers you some seat time. You meet him at the appointed place and time and as you stomp on the loud pedal instead of the exotic noise you have dreamt of all these years, the sounds that you have listened to countless times on Speed TV, various YouTube videos, you hear the generically common rumble of a small-block Chevy. Yep, the car has been “lumped” … that is had it’s original exotic engine replaced with a generic crate motor.

Now, not to say that an American V-8 makes an unpleasant noise. Not at all. It is just that it is common. Just about every Tom, Dick, and Guido you knew in high school made second-gear-scratches with his Camaro, so you’ve heard this sound a million times before. Every cop car, every SUV, every rental sedan, every muscle car you have ever known in your life made this very same noise. Sure, you are now in a unique package, but it has been blended with something .. well… DULL and your disappointment is palpable.

That pretty much sums up our experience with two bottles of Petite Sirah last night. Both were eminently drinkable, and in fact I’d say they were enjoyable and good. They just had been tamed by the introduction of some other grape. They’d lost their unique Petit Sirah-ness.

The first was a Ravenswood Vintners Blend Petite Sirah 2006. I’ve had their wines before, but never a Petite Sirah. I spotted this one out of the corner of my eye at the grocery store and of course, had to buy it. Petite Sirah is my favorite varietal and as I’ve said many times before I’d pillage your village for a single bottle. This one required minimal pillaging as it cost a mere $9.99.

Even Mrs. Barbarian was looking forward to drinking it. As she was finishing up preparing dinner she said “Oh, I like Ravenswood wines.”

I popped open the bottle and did not experience the hand grenade aroma I usually expect from a Petite Sirah upon opening. Hrmmm. Poured a glass. It was “okay” but lacking in something… perhaps that big two-by-four whack to the palette I love so much about my favorite varietal? Yeah, that’s it. This wine is smooth and tasty. It just drinks like a GENERIC RED BLEND. OMG, somebody swapped a V-8 into my exotic sports car! Damn.

Things were about to go from generic to uncertainty… as I pulled out the other Petite Sirah I bought that day. Uncertainty because it was so damn cheap. Crane Lake 2005 Petite Sirah… a mere $3.99. Yep three dollars and ninety nine cents. While I normally relish finding any red wine under ten bucks, and can’t pass up a bargain, it is always risky to go that low. After all this is a crafted agricultural product that takes months, if not years to produce. It should not be that cheap. But hey, I’ll try anything once!

Surprisingly the Crane Lake was pretty much the same as the two and a half times more expensive Ravenswood Vintners Blend… smooth, tasty, but far too lightweight and dull to be a true representative of a Petite Sirah.

So if you are looking for a reasonably cheap, or even a shockingly cheap, everyday drinking red, by all means pick up either of these two wines. They are not however good representatives of my favorite varietal. The winemakers have obviously thrown something into the mix to tone down the bigness of the signature varietal on the label. I am disappointed in them as Petite Sirah, but happy with them as wine. Odd I know, but in this case even a barbarian can put on airs.

(Apologies for the horrible photo, I’m just not very good with a camera! Not to worry though all Cameron Hughes Wines look the same and I have another one queued up to review soon… I’ll get a better shot… promise!)

Not only am I a Barbarian, I’m also a man. Being a man means I have retail aversion. I don’t like to shop. I’d rather sit in the car and stare at my Blackberry or listen to the radio than voluntarily go into a retail establishment.

So Mrs. Barbarian’s eyebrows nearly flew off her head when I suggested that I accompany her into our local Costco.

I honestly had no interest in anything I might find within, except some Cameron Hughes Wine. Well, OK I lied… when I saw that you could buy a 55 gallon drum of motor oil I thought that might come in handy out in the garage. I have no way to get it TO my garage however, so my focus returned to wine. I heard Cameron Hughes on the radio and I was intrigued by the concept: He buys oddball bits of wine… stuff being sold due to divorce, leftover varietal lots from blends, etc, and packages it under his own label. He gives no indication where it came from, other than region and vintage. I heard him tell stories of finding amazing stuff, that would normally be sold for $40-$200 a bottle available from him, under a cloak of anonymity, for around $20. This is a man after my own heart!

The allure of big-buck wine at a 70% discount was enough to drive me into a big box retailer. While Mrs. Barbarian rolled off with her Hummer-sized shopping cart I made my way to the wine section, by way of the drums of 10W-40. I found the object of my desire, a treasure trove of Mr. Hughes’ masked wine bargains. I snapped up a mixed case and snickered all the way home. After tasting a few, and reading the labels I realized I could save myself the retail trauma and just order them online! Heaven.

These wines do indeed deliver on their promise. They are wines that I’d normally drink on somebody else’s tab, but here they are all available for between ten and twenty bucks. Gotta love that! Look for many more reviews of Cameron Hughes Wines here in the future but I’ll start right where you would expect me to… the beginning. No, not “Lot 1″ – that was the beginning for Cameron. The first wine I ever touched, bought, and drank from this label was of course a Petit Sirah. Called Lot 70, this Petite hails from Lodi, the Lubbock of California. (Lubbock of course is the Fresno of Texas, but I digress) and costs a mere $11.

Lot 70 is still a bit young, and tasted to me like it needed some more R&R in the bottle. I’ve stashed the rest of what I originally bought down in the cellar and eagerly await the passage of time so that I can drink it all. It did however show a great deal of promise. Big and bold like a Petite Sirah should be. Stay tuned for more CH wine reviews.

“…or a bottle of Petite Sirah!”

The immortal words of Rooster Cogburn, a man with True Grit. This bottle went down after being holed with a corkscrew, no need for the big bore gun. A tasty 2004 Petite Sirah, hailing from Mendocino County via its Parducci winery. Like any Petite Sirah, Parducci’s True Grit is as big, bold, and over-the-top as The Duke’s iconic portrayal in the eponymous movie. It is fat, blustery, big, wears an eye patch & cowboy boots, and fires away with both hands while holding the reins it its teeth.

OK, I exaggerated … it doesn’t wear an eye patch. It’ll drop a buffalo at 200 yards though.

This will set you back about $18, or 144 bits if you’re a grumpy old cowboy.

Forgive me reader, for I have spent.

I classify this under my “on somebody else’s tab” category as it is an expensive wine… but I’ll admit, I spent my own hard earned money to acquire it. To be honest it is an act I mildly regret. Not that this is a bad wine really, in fact it was quite good. Excellent even! It is just that it goes against my character to hand over big bucks on a wine. Mind you what is big bucks to me is spare change to others.

This was a bottle of Carver Sutro 2004 Palisade Vineyard Napa Valley Petite Sirah, and I blew about forty five bucks on it. That is about double what I usually consider to be my limit on spending for a bottle of wine. This however, was a temptation I could not resist.

You see Carver Sutro is probably as passionate as I am about Petite Sirah… likely more. OK, I’ll be honest, WAY MORE. Petite Sirah is all they make (though I imagine some readers here suspect that it is all I drink!) At Carver Sutro they are dedicated to Durif. So you see, I HAD to buy this wine.

How was it? Pretty damn good. I should have decanted it for longer, in fact I should have cellared it given how much I paid… but what can I say? I’m a sucker for a Petite Sirah, and this one was polished off pretty damn quick. Mrs. Barbarian liked it. I loved it.

Should I find a $50 bill lying on the ground I know EXACTLY what I’m going to do with it.

This is a Russian River Valley Sirah. I paid about $15 for it and like just about every Petite Sirah, I really enjoyed it. So much so that I’m quite sleepy and at a loss for words. Must be good!

Last night we had a thunderstorm, followed by a huge blood red full moon rising over the hills to the east. Mrs. Barbarian was cooking up some amazing stuffed flank steak things she found somewhere, so I figured nothing short of a big Petite Sirah bomb blast would do. I emerged from the cellar with this one, a Lodi, CA named “Spelbound.” It has a waxing half-moon on the label, so not quite in phase, but what the hell. This is from the 2005 vintage, and cost me a mere $12.99.

It stood up very well to the very rich Florentine stuffing in the meat, but it lacked the gravity to match up with the full moon and thunderous overture provided by mother nature. I was hoping for something bigger… you know that blow-your-mind and stain-your-teeth Petite Sirah trademarks. Mind you, it was fine, just not what I’d call a BIG PS.

If you are new to Petite Sirah, and crave subtlety rather than the assault with a blunt object behavior of the varietal give this one a try. Just don’t expect a Pinot! It isn’t big, but it isn’t little either.