MCV Paso Robles Petite Sirah 2022

Two amazing moments with Petite Sirah; but first, a reflection on Petite Sirah:

Petite Sirah is a California winemaker’s sweetheart of a red wine grape. Meaning this is the grape that almost all of them love growing and working with. Why? Because Petite has a very small berry (hence the name) and because of this, when made into wine, it has a high skin-to-juice ratio. The ratio in turn means that Petite can handle California’s sunshine - no matter how ripe it gets, the tannins and acidity balance the resulting alcohol. For Cali winemakers, this is a darling of a grape.

Now the two amazing moments. 

First, one of the best wine pairings that you will ever have is Beef Tartare and Petite Sirah. It can be the simplest of all Beef Tartares, and it will still blow you away! Gussie it up with all kinds of accoutrements, and you’ll be living large. 

Second, Waterford was once invited to host the Connoisseurs Room of a large fundraiser wine tasting. At that tasting we were able to source a collection of Petite Sirahs from California dating back to 1965! The vintners and many of the other presenters in the tasting were blown away. So blown away, in fact, that they kept tasting that table all night long. Petite being a relatively high-alcohol varietal, you can imagine what happened. Waterford managed to bamboozle most of the presenters, resulting in one heck of a party. Fun times, although we were never invited back!