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| Rob Williams - Cabernets and Blends | ||
Rob's "Wine of the Week" Archives EHRHARDT ESTATES PETITE SIRAH 2004
Description: As an admitted Napa snob, I rarely experiment with wines from other regions any more. Every now and then I will be given a local winery’s latest and do my best to open my mind before tasting it. Ehrhardt estates is a 100+ Year old Sacramento-area success story which produces Chenin Blanc and Petite Sirah annually. How and when I drank it: Friday afternoon October 5, beginning at 2pm How to get it: The winery has a website that sells wine. Since I am new to the wine, I have never searched for nor noticed it in stores. A lot of Northern California and Northern Nevada stores make a point to carry local wines and the winery websites lists a myriad of local stores that sell their product. How Much: At the winery, about $25 per bottle My Thoughts: A petite sirah is a serious red wine that most people can’t appreciate. Similarly, it’s a very hard wine to make and master. When done perfectly, a great petite sirah is a full, smooth, velvety red wine that balances vanilla and fruit flavors with lush tannins and just a little bite. This petite sirah is not done perfectly, but it’s far from poor and it may improve with age. The nose on this wine is excellent and tremendous, although the flavors are not quite at that level, There is some nice berry fruit, a little pepper and a lot of leather that delivers a dry finish on the palette. At times, the tannins overwhelm the flavors. Halfway through the bottle, I paired the wine with a Manchego cheese, aged 6 months and found that the cheese softened the wine beautifully. Overall Score: This is a wine that is worth trying and a winery worth keeping an eye on. They have a great pedigree and they are certainly not producing sub-par wine. This is easily one of the best wines that comes from the Amador/El Dorado/Lodi triangle. At $25, it’s not quite a bargain 3 ½ vines. EHRHARDT ESTATES PETITE SIRAH 2004 =
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