2004

Petit Sirah

Foppiano Vineyards

Russian River Valley – Sonoma County - CA

Price: $17.99

Rating: 4 and 5

If you like hardy red wines with concentrated flavors that go extremely well with steaks, roasts, peppered dishes and anything grilled, then a Petit Sirah is for you.  And one of the premier US Petit Sirah winemakers is Foppiano.  They are consistently of good quality.  The best of their vintages was the 2001, a truly spectacular wine.  The 2004 we tasted came close. 

Characteristic of this wine is its deep purple, inky color.  It reflects some spice which is why peppered and spiced foods will work with the red wine.  The wine has very earthy flavors with a dominant plum flavor and a background of blackberry. 

The drawback to this wine is that it is highly tannic.  This is a wine that needs either 2 hours of airing before drinking or better yet, should be bought, stored and drunk 2 to 4 years from now, after the tannins have had a chance to mature and mellow with age.  Then watch out, this wine has the potential to be spectacular.  Thus tasting this wine caused me to experience two opposite emotions, disappointment and elation.  Disappointment that it was not as drinkable as I had hoped, but elated that I have something special to look forward to with the remaining bottles I own.  Warning, this wine is not for beginners or the “faint of heart.”  But if you like a bold very domineering wine, I would recommend you buy it, and either open 2 hours before drinking and allow the wine to “breath” and the tannins to mellow out, or buy now and save for a few years. 

As a result this wine gets two ratings:

·        4 – a good wine for the price if you drink it now

·        5 – a must buy at any price if you buy and store it for 2 to 4 years.*

* Look for our upcoming article on wine storage