Wednesday's Wine - Crane Lake Cellars Petite Sirah, 2005

So, I had this really lovely red wine last week, but uh, before I knew it, it was gone and I hadn't taken any notes for you. Guess I'll just have to buy another bottle of it and be a bit more diligent in my note taking. Fortunately, I have a small (counter top cellar) collection and I opened a good standby to go with my yummy steak...I mean...to share with you...

My guys, Joe and Bob, at 3 S Liquors bought a HUGE amount of Crane Lakes wine last fall. They're selling it at $4.00 a bottle. It's like Two Buck Chuck with shipping costs. Petite Sirah is a grape generally blended into other wines to add some body and fruit notes, especially when a specific grape had a bad year. But hey, Petite Sirah can stand alone as well. I haven't had a really expensive one, so I'm not sure if Crane Lakes Cellar's version is good or bad or mediocre. However, judging bu the lack of information beyond where to buy it, I'm thinking it's not considered that great. That said, I think it's pretty good as a general red wine. It's not overly dry, it has some nice fruit flavors (kind of a berry flavor, but not tart berries). It went well with my steak. I've bought it several times and had it with Italian food and with pork. I like it best with a juicy steak though (PETA folks don't hate me please...I have food allergies). Besides, even if I wasn't allergic to soy products and beans in general, I don't think this wine would make soy burgers taste good.

So what IS Petite Sirah. Some folks think it's like a small Shiraz. But not really. Here's some information I found at cellartracker.com :

The grape originated as a cross of Syrah pollen germinating a Peloursin plant. On some occasions, Peloursin and Syrah vines may be called Petite Sirah, usually because the varieties are extremely difficult to distinguish in old age. The 'petite' in the name of this grape refers to the size of its berries and not the vine, which is particularly vigorous. The leaves are large with a bright green upper surface and paler green lower surface. The grape forms tightly packed clusters that can be susceptible to rotting in rainy environments. The small berries creates a high skin to juice ratio which can produce very tannic wines if the juice goes through an extended maceration period. In the presence of new oak barrels the wine can develop an aroma of melted chocolate. Petite Sirah produces dark, inky colored wines that are relatively acidic with firm texture and mouth feel. The bouquet has herbal and black pepper overtones, with plum and blackberry flavors on the palate. Compared to Syrah, the wine is noticeably more dark and purplish in color.

Yummy...melted chocolate. No wonder I like this very cheap wine that apparently is a mediocre representation of a Petite Sirah. But for four bucks, I'm okay with that!