I think petite sirah aka duriff is after zin the best indigenous grape in
California. Many red jug wines have petite syrah or sirah in their uvaggio
or blend. Its blended into the better zinfandels at the upper end of the
scale. York Creek in Napa has been used by Ridge for about 35 years in
their zins or on their own. The grape does well in the Livermore area and
along the Pacific coast from Santa Cruz to Carmel. Properly made it lasts
a loooong time. I drank my last bottle of the 1975 Mt Veeder 5 years ago
and it was just opening up. Sometime in the mid 1980's I did an all, for a
tooth scrapping, ps tasting. Tasting of a bunch of tannic, high in alcohol
wines was not a pleasant experience, I should have waited at least 10 more
years to pop the corks. My most recent ps was made by a former client
Thomas Coyne who purchased the grapes. He cut back the alcohol and made a
wine that was good with roasted dishes. I think his supply dried up as the
vineyards were plowed over by a developer. Mr. Coyne was a cellar rat at
Rosenbloom before he founded his namesake winery.
"DaleW" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Petite sirah is also known as Durif. Mostly a pedestrian workhorse
> blending grape in France, but some decent ones (under the Durif name)
> in Australia.
> One of my favorite CA PS's is Lava Cap.
>