Decanterberry Tales - A Willamette Valley Wine Blog - petitesyrah tag

Novella, Paso Robles, Petite Syrah, 2004

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:43:10 GMT

Our friends brought over this bottle. It was a favorite of theirs; they bought a case of it.

The nose was spicy: pepper and cayenne. This wine was oaked too, so there's the vanilla. There was a bit of a chemical smell too. Andrew described it as "turpentine". Getting past all that, there was some dark fruit buried in there too: prune and raisin. And if you sniff really hard, there was bark, honey, and cinnamon.

The taste was mainly plum. But they oaked it so it was vanilla and cream. Denise said I was off with the plum; for her it was fig an blackberry. Suffice it to say it was dark fruit.

The finish was -- depending on your perspective -- plum and perhaps blackberry. It ended with a tannic stems-taste (but not in a bad way).

Denise and I agreed: it's one of those decent, quaffable wines. Not memorable for any greatness; but then, not memorable for being horrible either. But this one was just a slight cut above.

Cost:

Rating: 7.0

Stags Leap, Petite Syrah, 2000

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:14:55 GMT

Oak -- smells like oak and heavy, heavy wood. There are cinnamon, nutmeg and cedar tastes. Then dirt and manure. This wine is quite gamey and earthy with a hint of black cherry. A heavy vegetable flavor emerges. Kale. This wine tastes like earthy, gamey kale. And bark. It's a wild forest. Totally uncivilized. But it the finish has the taste of dusty dirt road running through it.

Cost:

Rating: 9.0

Spellbound, Petite Sirah, 2003

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 04:08:00 GMT

Smell: So intense that after one sip, it was calming. Smells like an Oregon forest--ferns and moss.

Taste: A sweet opening. There are a lot of tannins to it, but not nasty tannins--pretty balanced. That Oregon forest reappears--earthy and mossy.

Finish: Very strong.

Cost:

Rating: 6.0