Navarro Vineyards
Mendocino Petite Sirah
Mendocino, North Coast, California, USA
The last iteration of this varietal at Navarro, purple red, dense, moderate pigment extraction with about 1mm of tartaric crystals on the cork. Blueberry, cherry and plum notes in nose and mouth. Winery tasting webpage includes chocolate and pepper notes, which I found credible. Two hours after initial pour, I also got cola notes in the mouth. Light style, easy sipping, a pity as this is a long established varietal put out notably by Italian-American family wineries in Northern California during much of the 20th Century. 164 cases made. Well balanced and a perfect red table wine for autumn stews. Another cultural loss due to commercial decisions; wineries only make money and stay in business if you buy their wines, folks.
The last iteration of this varietal at Navarro, purple red, dense, moderate pigment extraction with about 1mm of tartaric crystals on the cork. Blueberry, cherry and plum notes in nose and mouth. Winery tasting webpage includes chocolate and pepper notes, which I found credible. Two hours after initial pour, I also got cola notes in the mouth. Light style, easy sipping, a pity as this is a long established varietal put out notably by Italian-American family wineries in Northern California during much of the 20th Century. 164 cases made. Well balanced and a perfect red table wine for autumn stews. Another cultural loss due to commercial decisions; wineries only make money and stay in business if you buy their wines, folks.
Nov 13th, 2022Inky purple. Decanted two hours, and almost ready to drink. Black currant and thyme aromas. Tannin-laden, lactic and mineral finish, with blackberry and a hint of cherry and butter in the mouth. Old school Italian-immigrant NorCal petit sirah here. You want American heritage? This is it, pilgrims... 24 hours later, there’s still tannins galore, but the fruit is fading. Drink up
Inky purple. Decanted two hours, and almost ready to drink. Black currant and thyme aromas. Tannin-laden, lactic and mineral finish, with blackberry and a hint of cherry and butter in the mouth. Old school Italian-immigrant NorCal petit sirah here. You want American heritage? This is it, pilgrims... 24 hours later, there’s still tannins galore, but the fruit is fading. Drink up
May 23rd, 2020Second bottle, retasting nine months later.
Second bottle, retasting nine months later.
Oct 20th, 2019Dense purple-red, highly extracted pigment. Plum, briar, and blackberry notes in nose with a whiff of butter and cooked spinach. Blackberry flavor, cherry-plum and saline finish with a hint of prune. Somewhat coarse tannins, mostly seed tannins, eventually emerge in finish. Like mixed fruit? For the first two hours, this drinks as a rustic wine, not very grapey in character or wine-like in style but good to drink nonetheless. Tastes light in acid and alcohol (14.2%) so does not taste like a big style, somewhat unusual for a Cali Petite Sirah. Lightly salted, lightly fermented fruit juice hits closest to the mark. Not fancy, just yummy. After two hours, it begins tasting like a wine - acid, alcohol, tannins, more integrated flavor. Plum cherry and blackberry flavors still dominate, but otherwise balanced. Decant several hours basically.
Dense purple-red, highly extracted pigment. Plum, briar, and blackberry notes in nose with a whiff of butter and cooked spinach. Blackberry flavor, cherry-plum and saline finish with a hint of prune. Somewhat coarse tannins, mostly seed tannins, eventually emerge in finish. Like mixed fruit? For the first two hours, this drinks as a rustic wine, not very grapey in character or wine-like in style but good to drink nonetheless. Tastes light in acid and alcohol (14.2%) so does not taste like a big style, somewhat unusual for a Cali Petite Sirah. Lightly salted, lightly fermented fruit juice hits closest to the mark. Not fancy, just yummy. After two hours, it begins tasting like a wine - acid, alcohol, tannins, more integrated flavor. Plum cherry and blackberry flavors still dominate, but otherwise balanced. Decant several hours basically.
Jan 24th, 2019
