After the success of our first vintage we decided to make a red counterpart to our Chenin Blanc and enjoyed learning the grower handle for Petite Sirah which is “PETS”. Our Clarksburg grower Ken Wilson was the first one to take a chance on us so we decided to dedicate this wine to his dog Tanker who always used to bark at us when we came to the farm. Our description of this wine was a metaphor inspired by the canine “dark colored, long legged and bold”, we feel this wine has the potential to be your best friend.
This Petite Sirah always has impressive color and this entry is no different. Dark, inky purple, plum (almost black) color. The intense aromas express blueberry and huckleberry fruit notes. The wine is refined with a rich French Oak barrel profile which is quite integrated in the mid-palate and a silky platform for the cassis spice and sappy vanilla flavors. The wine is well structured and full bodied with elegant tannins allowing the flavors and character of the variety to shine through. The finish is rich with dark chocolate, blackberry and creamy Tahitian vanilla. The color of this massive Petite Sirah is deep plum to inky purple. The wine is concentrated with ripe blueberry and boysenberry fruit and elegantly wrapped in a silky vanilla wrapping. The entry of this dense Petite is both tannic and bold while maintaining a juicy, overripe profile displaying ample acidity to balance the tannins and fruit concentration making it multidimensional and food friendly. The finish is so supple and smooth that you will miss it when it is gone.
This is our 21st vintage of Petite Sirah from this vineyard. These grapes come from Wilson Farms, a now 4th generation farm established in 1922. While their first grapes were planted to other varietals it became understood rather quickly that the best two varietals to grow there are both Chenin Blanc and Petite Sirah. The planting we first started making wine from was 1979, but we have diversified into other blocks which allows us to make a more complex wine and achieve maximum color extraction. Part of what makes Clarksburg a special appellation is the cooling trend that comes in from the San Francisco Bay everyday at about 3:30 pm which sweeps the heat out of the valley floor and allows the grapes to maintain their natural acidity. I like to say this is a reverse cooling trend in that moderation (of heat) comes in the afternoon rather than the early mornings as it does on the coast.
This wine pairs well with Mexican Carnitas tacos (barbecued pork) spiced with cardamom and spicy chiles served with salsa fresca. It’s great with anything off the grill from Tri-tip to chops to filet mignon and for vegetarians go for an impossible burger made with grains and/or mushrooms.
Vinum Cellars is a collaboration of winemakers Richard Bruno and Chris Condos, who first became friends while they were students at UC Davis. They share a long standing passion for Chenin Blanc and fondness for the more obscure grape varieties.
After graduation, Chris went to work for Pine Ridge as Enologist, and Richard went to Bonny Doon as their distiller. Shortly after, their friendship was solidified over Chenin Blanc with the creation of their first wine “Pointe Blanc”. Currently the Vinum Cellars team is working with over 14 grape varieties from El Dorado and San Benito Counties to Napa Valley.
Our basic winemaking philosophy is to work with great grape growers to develop the best fruit in the vineyard. We pick the grapes at optimal ripeness and gently process the fruit. We are very experimental with yeast strains and use different cultures for each variety. Our whites are barrel fermented slowly and aged Sur Lies in small French Oak barrels. With our reds, skin contact is optimized by the use of small open top fermentors, hand punch downs and extended maceration before pressing. Our belief in the use of older French Oak barrels allows the varietal fruit of our wines to be expressed. We are committed to experimenting and learning new winemaking methods while preserving an old world approach.
As an environmentally conscious company, Vinum Cellars works only with sustainable growers to create Eco-Friendly products. The packaging choices were made specifically to minimize their carbon footprint. Some of those features are: Domestically produced light weight, Eco-Series glass; labels and cartons using only non-toxic, water based inks and each of these suppliers recycles 100% of the waste created by manufacturing our packaging.
Available States
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Lab Rat reporting Oct 23rd, 2020 year of our lord.
Twisted off the top with the bottle slightly colder than I usually have it at 66 degree F.
Deep ruby color, very slightly inkiness. I almost thought it was sediment.
I took the traditional 3 sips. 1st to ignore and wash my mouth- means nothing. 2nd one, I get huckleberry and some firm tannin tang. Feels a bit young to me. 3rd sip confirms this and frankly is a bit cooler than I’d like so I pour some in a decanter for breathing.
The nose is like a Petite Sirah to me with a bit more ripe berry on it. The taste is more hearty than you’d expect from a Petite Sirah. More in like a deep burgundy something from the Rhone region of France. I get a tad of cola on the back end that’s also minerally and long on the finish. I’m not sure I agree with the term “supple” being used on the finish.
The decanting was well worth it, and shows this to be just a bit more complex. I know I’m repeating myself. I felt it was more rustic when I first tasted it. Over time, it dresses up nicely. A term I often recycle for really good wines that I like is “It’s like strolling though the mist in a midnight garden”. While this isn’t like “Slugging cranberry juice on a long board in SoCal”, it’s a bit like “Taking a segway to a beach party that has an invite list”.
I’d pair with something [outdoor] grilled.
To wrap it up. There’s a dog on the bottle. If you are looking for a dainty Petite Sirah, you should look elsewhere. At under $10/bottle, I think it’s well worth it.
Also, if you take the letters “vinum cellars” you can rearrange them to spell “Calm Vine Slur”. Clearly the illuminati had something to do with this wine.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2017 Vinum Cellars PETS Petite Sirah - $20 = 15.38%
A bottle of the Vinum 2017 Petite Sirah arrived a few days ago, giving us time to let it settle and plan a menu to complement it. I opened the bottle an hour before dinner to give it time to open up. A quick sniff just to make sure it wasn’t a bad bottle revealed a subdued nose, and a little sip offered plenty of promise. By the time the leg of lamb had finished roasting on the rotisserie, the wine was ready to live up to that promise. The nose is still subdued, some dark fruit, but the first taste showed a rich palate of cassis, leather, a bit of cedar, all in harmony, with firm tannins backing it up. A perfect accompaniment for the lamb, as planned. As the meal progressed, so did the wine. It continued to open up and softened into something fruitier, the plums and cherries hinted at in the initial sip came to the front, and the intense fruit flavors created the illusion of sweetness. I thoroughly enjoyed this wine from start to finish. In addition to working perfectly with the main course, it also proved an excellent companion for the roasted romanesco and the balsamic succotash we had chosen for side dishes. I’d happily pay at least $20 for a PS of this quality. At this price, definitely what WD likes to call “a screaming deal.” It’s still young; it could be fun to see how it ages, if only I could leave it alone long enough.
@woopdedoo In case you’re interested in the details, here’s a copy of the email I sent to WCCWineGirl: About the dinner, Petite Sirah has been a long time favorite with lamb for us, and I knew there was a nice 4-pound boneless leg of lamb in the freezer waiting for the right occasion. It had already been butterflied, so all I had to do was chop up some fresh rosemary from the garden, add some lemon juice and EVOO, along with some Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, rub it in and let in marinate for an hour, tie it up and put it on the rotisserie. It’s a great way to cook that kind of roast, it just bastes itself while it cooks. We’re very big on veggies, and we get to at least one local farmer’s market every week. Last week, I picked up a head of Romanesco, some lima beans, corn, and red peppers, so we had the Romanesco roasted in the oven with garlic, EVOO, and lemon zest. The lima beans, corn, and chopped red pepper made a really nice succotash, along with some sautéed onion and garlic, and a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar at the end. Steamed baby red potatoes bathed in butter, white vermouth, mint, and chives completed the meal, and the wine was great with everything.
@ddeuddeg I might be doing a lamb roast this week - I will take your suggestion about a PS pairing. For me, the PS’s need to sit for five years or so. That being said - Bonus Level is drinking to my taste right now - think I will open a bottle with the Lamb. I will pull some Kohlrabi from my garden and use it as a basis for a veg. dish to go with the lamb.
ddeuddeg got notification the other day that he had been chosen to be a Lab Rat. Yeah, us! Once he opened up the package and saw a 2017 Vinum Cellars PETS Petite Sirah Clarksburg at 14.5% alc, he knew exactly what we were having for dinner! Lamb!
ddeuddeg opened the bottle about an hour before dinner. We felt that we needed to do an immediate assessment and then let it sit for a while to open up. At the first sniff, this wine is very fruity, but I could not narrow down which fruits. It is a young Petite Sirah, so it is not as bold as we often find in a PS. I found loads of ripe red fruits at the first taste, but it was tight, and I felt that it had a high alcohol content.
After about an hour open, I got a lot of red, ripe fruits on the palate: ripe blueberries and other berries, but it was still tight, and I just couldn’t get a lot on the nose. I was tempted to use the vinturi because ddeuddeg didn’t feel that he wanted to decant it, but I chose not to. I decided to let the wine do its thing and open up naturally during our dinner.
This wine paired beautifully with our entire meal and got better as it opened up. It was absolutely perfect with the leg of lamb that was done on the rotisserie. It played nicely with the homemade succotash, the oven-roasted garlic-lemon Romanesco, and the steamed herbed vermouth potatoes.
This is a definite food wine. We finished the bottle with our leisurely dinner and did not allow it to develop further over an additional hour or so. We did go back for a sniffy sniff of the wine glass later, but neither of us got much wafting up from the bottom of the glass. FWIW, we do this all the time with our wines, to enjoy those aromas one last time and to see how the wine may have changed with more oxygen.
I was thinking that the price at the winery would be about $25 per bottle. I was very surprised to see that it is going for $18.00! It is not the boldest PS I have ever consumed, but it is a good, solid wine and a steal at this price. I would recommend buying now, enjoying a few bottles while they’re young and then, squirrel the rest away for the recommended aging time. Enjoy!
squirrel the rest away for the recommended aging time.
Given the twisty, how would one even begin to estimate cellar time?
I’m thinking that oddball vintage Buena Vista Ramal Vineyard bottle with a screw top, where all others were cork.
@rjquillin I really have no idea how to estimate the cellar time on this wine. I would love to pose that question to the winemaker. I would also love to know how long this wine was in barrels. Inquiring wines want to know!
@WCCWineGirl You’re welcome! I have no idea where we originally found the lamb. ddeuddeg actually pulled it out of the freezer! We’ll have some delicious leftovers on Monday, with promises of shepherd’s pie when the weather gets nasty. The shepherd’s pie portion is already back in the freezer!
Just in case the winemakers should pop by: what would you estimate the cellaring time for this wine? When do you expect it to be at its peak? Also, for how long was it in barrels and when was it bottled? Thanks!
vacant-vocal-stomach
Given this was ordered before breakfast after a sleepy review of the rattage, an appropriate order moniker. Vinum has always been a favorite around our house, I can’t resist Petit Sirah and the rats put me over the top to “yes!”
Just had this from my shipment. I was totally surprised - it is super juicy, rather than the tannic monsters that I am used to. After tasting, I came back to the forum to look up the blend and was surprised that it is 100% PS. I am doing a little wine tasting with my son to give him some of the knowledge that I have acquired over my woot years and mostly from RPM. Tomorrow, I will pull out an aged PS (probably Bonus Level) and do a side by side with this wine. I suspect that this wine will not age all that well, but I will give it a chance.
2017 Vinum Cellars PETS Petite Sirah, Clarksburg
Tasting Notes
20 Year Anniversary Edition
Food Pairings
Specs
Included in the Box
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$216/Case at Vinum Cellars for 12x 2017 Vinum Cellars PETS Petite Sirah, Clarksburg
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Nov 16 - Wednesday, Nov 18
Vinum Cellars PETS Petite Sirah
6 bottles for $64.99 $10.83/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $109.99 $9.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2017 Vinum Cellars PETS Petite Sirah
Lab Rat reporting Oct 23rd, 2020 year of our lord.
Twisted off the top with the bottle slightly colder than I usually have it at 66 degree F.
Deep ruby color, very slightly inkiness. I almost thought it was sediment.
I took the traditional 3 sips. 1st to ignore and wash my mouth- means nothing. 2nd one, I get huckleberry and some firm tannin tang. Feels a bit young to me. 3rd sip confirms this and frankly is a bit cooler than I’d like so I pour some in a decanter for breathing.
The nose is like a Petite Sirah to me with a bit more ripe berry on it. The taste is more hearty than you’d expect from a Petite Sirah. More in like a deep burgundy something from the Rhone region of France. I get a tad of cola on the back end that’s also minerally and long on the finish. I’m not sure I agree with the term “supple” being used on the finish.
The decanting was well worth it, and shows this to be just a bit more complex. I know I’m repeating myself. I felt it was more rustic when I first tasted it. Over time, it dresses up nicely. A term I often recycle for really good wines that I like is “It’s like strolling though the mist in a midnight garden”. While this isn’t like “Slugging cranberry juice on a long board in SoCal”, it’s a bit like “Taking a segway to a beach party that has an invite list”.
I’d pair with something [outdoor] grilled.
To wrap it up. There’s a dog on the bottle. If you are looking for a dainty Petite Sirah, you should look elsewhere. At under $10/bottle, I think it’s well worth it.
Also, if you take the letters “vinum cellars” you can rearrange them to spell “Calm Vine Slur”. Clearly the illuminati had something to do with this wine.
@ecue Awesome report & pics. Looks like it paired well with your adorable pooch.
HIKING! VIKINGS! STRIKE KING [BRAND FISHING LURES]! AWESOME!
@mediocrebot Hey, dumbass! Shouldn’t it be STRIKE KINGS? Stupid robot.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2017 Vinum Cellars PETS Petite Sirah - $20 = 15.38%
A bottle of the Vinum 2017 Petite Sirah arrived a few days ago, giving us time to let it settle and plan a menu to complement it. I opened the bottle an hour before dinner to give it time to open up. A quick sniff just to make sure it wasn’t a bad bottle revealed a subdued nose, and a little sip offered plenty of promise. By the time the leg of lamb had finished roasting on the rotisserie, the wine was ready to live up to that promise. The nose is still subdued, some dark fruit, but the first taste showed a rich palate of cassis, leather, a bit of cedar, all in harmony, with firm tannins backing it up. A perfect accompaniment for the lamb, as planned. As the meal progressed, so did the wine. It continued to open up and softened into something fruitier, the plums and cherries hinted at in the initial sip came to the front, and the intense fruit flavors created the illusion of sweetness. I thoroughly enjoyed this wine from start to finish. In addition to working perfectly with the main course, it also proved an excellent companion for the roasted romanesco and the balsamic succotash we had chosen for side dishes. I’d happily pay at least $20 for a PS of this quality. At this price, definitely what WD likes to call “a screaming deal.” It’s still young; it could be fun to see how it ages, if only I could leave it alone long enough.
@ddeuddeg Ya had me at lamb on the rotisserie…
@ddeuddeg love this review - thank you. Ahh and that lamb sounds delish.
@ddeuddeg I think any wine would be incidental to your wonderfully designed and executed meals. Gotta up my game …
@woopdedoo In case you’re interested in the details, here’s a copy of the email I sent to WCCWineGirl: About the dinner, Petite Sirah has been a long time favorite with lamb for us, and I knew there was a nice 4-pound boneless leg of lamb in the freezer waiting for the right occasion. It had already been butterflied, so all I had to do was chop up some fresh rosemary from the garden, add some lemon juice and EVOO, along with some Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, rub it in and let in marinate for an hour, tie it up and put it on the rotisserie. It’s a great way to cook that kind of roast, it just bastes itself while it cooks. We’re very big on veggies, and we get to at least one local farmer’s market every week. Last week, I picked up a head of Romanesco, some lima beans, corn, and red peppers, so we had the Romanesco roasted in the oven with garlic, EVOO, and lemon zest. The lima beans, corn, and chopped red pepper made a really nice succotash, along with some sautéed onion and garlic, and a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar at the end. Steamed baby red potatoes bathed in butter, white vermouth, mint, and chives completed the meal, and the wine was great with everything.
@ddeuddeg I might be doing a lamb roast this week - I will take your suggestion about a PS pairing. For me, the PS’s need to sit for five years or so. That being said - Bonus Level is drinking to my taste right now - think I will open a bottle with the Lamb. I will pull some Kohlrabi from my garden and use it as a basis for a veg. dish to go with the lamb.
Vinum has as always been a solid producer to me. Nice offer.
ddeuddeg got notification the other day that he had been chosen to be a Lab Rat. Yeah, us! Once he opened up the package and saw a 2017 Vinum Cellars PETS Petite Sirah Clarksburg at 14.5% alc, he knew exactly what we were having for dinner! Lamb!
ddeuddeg opened the bottle about an hour before dinner. We felt that we needed to do an immediate assessment and then let it sit for a while to open up. At the first sniff, this wine is very fruity, but I could not narrow down which fruits. It is a young Petite Sirah, so it is not as bold as we often find in a PS. I found loads of ripe red fruits at the first taste, but it was tight, and I felt that it had a high alcohol content.
After about an hour open, I got a lot of red, ripe fruits on the palate: ripe blueberries and other berries, but it was still tight, and I just couldn’t get a lot on the nose. I was tempted to use the vinturi because ddeuddeg didn’t feel that he wanted to decant it, but I chose not to. I decided to let the wine do its thing and open up naturally during our dinner.
This wine paired beautifully with our entire meal and got better as it opened up. It was absolutely perfect with the leg of lamb that was done on the rotisserie. It played nicely with the homemade succotash, the oven-roasted garlic-lemon Romanesco, and the steamed herbed vermouth potatoes.
This is a definite food wine. We finished the bottle with our leisurely dinner and did not allow it to develop further over an additional hour or so. We did go back for a sniffy sniff of the wine glass later, but neither of us got much wafting up from the bottom of the glass. FWIW, we do this all the time with our wines, to enjoy those aromas one last time and to see how the wine may have changed with more oxygen.
I was thinking that the price at the winery would be about $25 per bottle. I was very surprised to see that it is going for $18.00! It is not the boldest PS I have ever consumed, but it is a good, solid wine and a steal at this price. I would recommend buying now, enjoying a few bottles while they’re young and then, squirrel the rest away for the recommended aging time. Enjoy!
@bahwm
Nice reports you two, as always.
Given the twisty, how would one even begin to estimate cellar time?
I’m thinking that oddball vintage Buena Vista Ramal Vineyard bottle with a screw top, where all others were cork.
@bahwm OK, I’m convinced. Case ordered.
@rjquillin I really have no idea how to estimate the cellar time on this wine. I would love to pose that question to the winemaker. I would also love to know how long this wine was in barrels. Inquiring wines want to know!
@bahwm Thank you for reporting. Now, where can I get a case of “leg of lamb”? yum
@WCCWineGirl You’re welcome! I have no idea where we originally found the lamb. ddeuddeg actually pulled it out of the freezer! We’ll have some delicious leftovers on Monday, with promises of shepherd’s pie when the weather gets nasty. The shepherd’s pie portion is already back in the freezer!
Just in case the winemakers should pop by: what would you estimate the cellaring time for this wine? When do you expect it to be at its peak? Also, for how long was it in barrels and when was it bottled? Thanks!
vacant-vocal-stomach
Given this was ordered before breakfast after a sleepy review of the rattage, an appropriate order moniker. Vinum has always been a favorite around our house, I can’t resist Petit Sirah and the rats put me over the top to “yes!”
@cathyk39 that is a great order name fer sure.
/giphy malignant-cautious-pleasure
/giphy disgusting-peevish-iguana
Petite Sirah … why, yes please!
/giphy babbling-very-experience
@MarkDaSpark
Six was too many, but one or two would nicely do.
Post-offer Tangential Music
Just had this from my shipment. I was totally surprised - it is super juicy, rather than the tannic monsters that I am used to. After tasting, I came back to the forum to look up the blend and was surprised that it is 100% PS. I am doing a little wine tasting with my son to give him some of the knowledge that I have acquired over my woot years and mostly from RPM. Tomorrow, I will pull out an aged PS (probably Bonus Level) and do a side by side with this wine. I suspect that this wine will not age all that well, but I will give it a chance.
@woopdedoo I opened a bonus level a few weeks ago. Its still pretty young.