PS I Love You

A number of wine varieties that aren't in America's top ten favorites are called misunderstood. Petite Sirah has been around "forever" on the American wine scene, but never terribly popular. Why? It's a misunderstood wine.

The Petite Sirah name

Here's the first problem as there's nothing "petite" about the taste of Petite Sirah and, as you can see, Sirah isn't even spelled like Syrah. It is related to, but it is not the same as Syrah. The size of the grapes is quite small hence the petite.

Petite Sirah history

In the late 19th century a Frenchman named Durif crossed Syrah and the obscure Peloursin grape and named it after himself. When it was imported to America a few years later it got the Petite Sirah name. It became very popular in California, in places like Napa and Sonoma counties. At the turn of the 20th century it made it's way to Australia.

Petite Sirah as a blending grape

Tannins in wines come from the skins (and can also come from the seeds). Since Petite Sirah grapes are so small they have a higher skin to juice ratio leading to more tannins. It became very popular for its dark purple color and tannic backbone where it could add structure to lighter weight wines. It was often blended into Zinfandel to mellow out the overt fruitiness.

Not for the faint-hearted  

Growers and winemakers need to manage those tannins otherwise you come out with a wine that will suck the moisture right out of your mouth. Think black tea where you leave the tea bag in your cup all day then try to drink it (the dryness in black tea is from tannins). This is especially true of those making 100% Petite.

The Petite Sirah fan club

One of many great
Dry Creek Petite Sirahs

The Petite Sirah fan club, PS I Love You, came along well before the movie. You can learn more about the grape here and they have a long list of food recommendations. I usually think of Petite Sirah with hearty beefy meals, but they cover salads to seafood to vegetarian.

Areas in California to find PS

The best known areas for Petite Sirah are Sonoma County, especially Dry Creek Valley, and Lodi. Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and Lodi have quite a lot of old vine Petite Sirah. By acreage most is in the Central Valley primarily used to blend in jug wines (Lodi & Clarksburg are exceptions). San Luis Obispo County on the central coast grows a lot of PS.

Wineries known for their PS

A few Sonoma County wineries for Petite Sirah are Carol Shelton, Foppiano, Francis Ford Coppola, and Trentadue, but there are dozens and dozens of others. In Napa there is Biale and Frank Family plus many others.
A good "starter" PS (based on a low price, good quality) would be Bogle from the Clarksburg area or Parducci from Mendocino County.