2003 Earthquake Petite Sirah, Lodi Vinyards

One night a couple of months ago a friend of mine bought a bottle of the Earthquake Zinfandel, on the recommendation of my wine merchant saying he thought I had not tried it and I would like it. I did. It was a great wine. A couple of weeks later I was in the store and saw he had got a shipment of the Earthquake Petite Sirah. I asked if it was as good as the Zin, he smiled and said “oh-yeah.” Needless to say I purchased a bottle and shelved it for the right occasion.

I am not sure if the appropriate occasion ever came. I was home in the afternoon; cooking for a friend’s birthday party we were hosting that night. Midway through the afternoon I got decided to open a bottle of wine. I looked over my wine rack to see what jumped out at me. This one did. My plan was to have a glass and nurse the bottle through the night.

Once I opened the bottle I knew my plan was in danger. This was a fantastic bottle of wine. I enjoy it when a Sirah is completely opaque and this wine seems to be a black hole in a glass, it not only blocked light it seemed to absorb it.

The flavor was so good and complex. The official tag line for the flavor is blueberry syrup, black cherry, coffee beans, and vanilla, with a hint of warm cigar box. It had strong berry flavors. I did not get the vanilla or the cigar box, but I was not looking for cigar box. It is a flavor that I am not used to looking for.

I would definitely recommend this and will probably pick up another bottle some time soon.