Some of the most interesting wines I’ve been coming across lately are blends.  Pure varietal wines are fine, but putting together a blend allows winemakers to leverage the characteristics of different grapes to create balance and complexity.

The Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover is a new release from Concannon and is a petite sirah blend.  Concannon has quite a history with petite sirah as they were the first to produce it in America.  The blend here is 50% petite sirah, 25% cabernet sauvignon, 15% syrah and 10% zinfandel, which sounds to me like a uniquely Californian blend.

The “Crimson & Clover” name isn’t an homage to Tommy James & the Shondells or to Joan Jett.  Rather, it is meant to represent the Concannon family history with wine (Crimson) and their Irish heritage (Clover).  And if you didn’t know, the “Conservancy” name, which is part of a portfolio of wines at Concannon, comes from the fact that the land where the grapes are grown is part of a conservancy.  Specifically, the grapes come from the Livermore Valley in the Tri-Valley Conservancy, which is an area of over 3,100 acres protected from urban sprawl by a conservation trust.

The nose on this wine is absolutely beautiful, with licorice aromatics leading the experience.  It also shows some plum, candied fruits and cedar on the nose.  The palate is very nice too, with a perfect blend of abundant, ripe fruit flavors and spice.  The fruit shows expressions of plum and cherry, while the spice is a combo of nutmeg and black pepper.  The spices really come out on the finish, which also brings out the tart side of the fruit.  The mouth feel is slightly silky.  This is a very approachable and exciting wine.  Good stuff!

Wine: Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover
Variety: Petite sirah blend
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.7%
Rating: 90
Price: $18.00

Find Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Oh, and just in case you have a certain song rolling around in your head after reading this, here you go…

It has been a while since I’ve reviewed a Petite Sirah.  If fact, it’s been way too long and as I tasted this wine, I was reminded of how much I love Petite Sirah.  The rich flavors, deep color and silky feel are incredible.  And who better to revisit this variety with than Concannon.  After all, they were the first winery to varietally label Petite Sirah in the US back in 1961.

The name on this particular release from Concannon, “Conservancy,” is a nod to the efforts the winery has made to protect their vineyards from urban sprawl.  In 1996, Concannon was the first Livermore Valley vineyard to place its land into a permanent conservation easement.  Other vineyards have since followed suit to ensure that urbanization doesn’t threaten Livermore Valley as a wine producing region.

This wine has the inky, purple color with, blood red highlights at the edges, that make Petite Sirah fun to gaze into—for me, anyway.  Pronounced toasted oak and cherry aromas invitingly greet your nose to this wine.  It’s so toasted, that it’s almost smoky.  The alcohol aromas also come through a tiny bit harsh and that is my only complaint (and it’s really a minor complaint).  Robust black cherry flavors pop on the palate, followed by plum and chocolate covered strawberry in the mid-palate.  Silky tannins give a nice mouthfeel to the wine.  It finishes with crisp, acidic cherry and plum flavors.

This is a beautiful wine and an outstanding bargain at $15.

Wine: Concannon Conservancy Petite Sirah
Variety: Petite Sirah
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 87
Price Paid: $15.00

Find Concannon Conservancy Petite Sirah with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #40

Once again, it’s my favorite day of the month: Wine Blogging Wednesday.  For those who don’t know, Wine Blogging Wednesday is a day that happens once a month when wine bloggers from around the world all write about a common theme.  The theme this month is Petite Sirah, one of my favorite types of wine.  There is a host each month who summarizes all the contributions and this month the host is Sonadora at WannabeWino.

Petite Sirah, also known as Durif, tends to be a dark, concentrated, tannic and spicy wine with jammy fruit.  I find it to be an absolutely voluptuous and luxurious wine.  Drinking Petite Sirah is akin to draping yourself in velvet robes and lounging on silky pillows.

Petite Sirah was originated as a varietal in 1880 by Dr. François Durif in Southern France from a cross pollination of Syrah and Peloursin.  Although Syrah is in its genes, Petite Sirah should not be confused with Syrah.  It is a new and different grape.  I’m always frustrated when I go to the wine shop and find the Petite Sirah mixed in with the Syrah.  It just leads to confusion about this wonderful wine varietal.

Petite Sirah Meets World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is something I don’t expect you’ll hear about from any other wine bloggers today.  But there’s a connection with WoW and Petite Sirah for me.  ”WoW” is the abbreviation for World of Warcraft for those who don’t know.

Yep… I’m a gamer.  I play WoW a lot—although not as much as I used to. I would probably spend more time posting wine reviews if I weren’t wasting my time on WoW.  But hey, it’s a lot of fun and I’ve been playing since the game first came out three years ago.  If you care, my main character is a Troll Shaman named Hellworm (see pic on the right).

Anyway, I was first introduced to Petite Sirah when I started to plan for this website back in September 2006.  I was playing WoW one night, getting ready for a raid on Blackwing Lair, and I was chatting with my fellow Shamans about my plans for this website.  It turned out that Auriga, one of my best friends in the game, was also really into wine.  That’s him on the left.

Auriga recommended Bogle Petite Sirah as the best $9.00 I would ever spend.  I went out and picked up a bottle and sure enough, it was some damn good stuff.  I subsequently tried several other brands of Petite Sirah and soon dubbed it a favorite varietal.

Since that time, Auriga and I have moved our toons to different servers and aren’t able to play together anymore.    But I raise my glass to him and say, “thanks for turning me on to Petite Sirah.”

McManis Family Vineyards Petite Sirah 2006

I considered doing Bogle Petite Sirah for Wine Blogging Wednesday, but most folks already know about Bogle and I figured someone else would take care of that one.  Plus, I found another brand that I’m really excited about and I wanted to share it with all of you: McManis Family Vineyards.

I haven’t come across McManis wines in many shops in my area.  In fact, the only place I’ve found it is at Chateau Pomije (I’d link them up, but their website appears to be offline) in Cincinnati, where there is some buzz about McManis.  The McManis Pinot Noir was so popular that they were sold out before I could get there to pick up a bottle.  And I expect the Petite Sirah will sell quickly too when the word gets out.  I better stock up as soon as I publish this!

McManis Family Vineyards are located in Ripon, California, at the confluence of the San Joaquin and Stanislaus Rivers.  This area is known as the “River Junction” appellation.  Although the vineyard was founded in 1990, the McManis family has been growing grapes in the region since 1938.

The McManis Petite Sirah has a beautiful, purple color.  Most Petite Sirah that I’ve had is very dark in color.  While the McManis is dark, it seems to have a lot more color saturation than other Petite Sirah I have tried.

Leather, black pepper, blackberry and smoke give this wine an interesting bouquet.  The palate is fairly concentrated with abundant ripe fruit, such as blackberry & cherry.  It’s smoky on the palate as well—there’s no missing the oak in this one.  The tannins are like comfortable silky pajamas giving you a relaxing and sensuous mouth feel.  And it has a nice, long finish.

I picked this bottle up for $11.99 and I gave it a 90.  It’s very good stuff.

Wine: McManis Family Vineyards
Varietal: Petite Sirah
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 13.5% 
Rating: 90
Price Paid: $11.99