♦ 2006 Durif– Santa Cruz Mountains ♦

Vineyard: Chepard Vineyard – Saratoga
Appellation: Santa Cruz Mountains
Wine: 100% Durif
Alcohol: 12.7%
Production: 62 cases

First off, a clarification of the variety name of this wine for those of you who don’t know the story. Durif is what any other winery in California would call Petite Sirah. The name “Petite Sirah” was simply invented by someone when cuttings of Durif from the Rhone Valley in France were first brought over to the U.S. It is a purely made-up name for what the French call “Durif”; there is no such thing as “Petite Sirah” in France.

This is our debut release of a wine from this new vineyard source. The vineyard is located on Mount Eden Road in Saratoga, just down the hill from Mount Eden Vineyards. It is on a very steep, shale-covered slope that looks like it just has to produce wines of great character – and that it does!

Although the vineyard is still rather young the wine produced from these vines has a lot of complexity and depth. It smells and tastes more like a Rhone wine from France than most other “Petite Sirahs” grown in California. The aroma has an intriguing element of aromatic wood smoke, smoked meats, black and white pepper and lots of bush berry fruit.

This wine is still quite youthful and will certainly benefit from some decanting and breathing before serving for it to fully wake up.