Petite Sirah

Petite Sirah

Parts adapted from discussions on the Wine Spectator forums, mostly by Paul Romero, and from Wikipedia.

Petite Sirah is the American name for the varietal Durif. The varietal was officially discovered by François Durif, a botanist at the University of Montpellier in 1880, and is a cross of Peloursin, pollenated by Syrah. Once popular in France due to its high resistance to downy mildew it is almost non-existent in France today.

Petite Sirah has been grown in California since 1884. In fact, it was, until twenty years ago, the most planted red grape varietal in the state, mostly planted in the San Joaquin and Monterey Counties. As a varietal it's unusually easy to grow, even from seed, which may contribute to all the clonal/variety confusion in older plantings. It's not fussy, yields well, needs little water or care, and seems pretty hardy against fungus. Additionally it can be propagated from live cuttings from a new plant and will yield in year one and two without normal adverse effect on the plant.

From a winemaking viewpoint, it's one of the best grapes to use if you are doing small batches. It doesn't seem to mind the extra handling or react poorly to oxygen. It is fairly straight forward in the winery and can handle some rough treatment (such as pumping) that more subtle grapes like Pinot Noir hate. Its thick skins mean getting color and flavor is pretty easy. Really it's as simple as throw it in a bucket and stir from time to time. The challenge is those same thick skins. Petite Sirah has a boat load of tannin. Keeping the tannin under control and not over extracting is the major challenge. The tannins can be harsh too, it's a late ripener and the tannins can get "green" as well as massive which makes a pretty unpleasent mouthful.

History

In the 19th century the grape people wanted wasPetite Syrah(note the spelling). Petite Syrah is a supposed clone of Syrah grown in the Rhone Valley. It is supposed because at this time, no scientific clone has been isolated that corresponds with the plants growers in the Rhone call Petite Syrah. Basically it's a Syrah plant with small berries.

Then in the 1890's, Phylloxera hit California and all the vineyards had to be replanted on grafted root stock. Before that time there was already confusion and many nurseries had (intentionally or accidentally) sold varietals to growers labelled as Petite Syrah that were not genuine. The real problem however, may have been Paul Masson. He became the prime supplier of grafted clones to the rebuilding wine industry. He was also a businessman and he had imported top quality clones of Pinot Noir, Chardonay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and all the classic varietals from France. He was not particularly keen to share these prized clones with the competition. As a result, if you ordered Chardonnay, you might have got Aligote, for Pinot Noir you might get Gamay, for Petite Syrah, Durif. Since Durif looks and tastes very different from Syrah growers soon realised that the plant they had was not Syrah. It did grow fast though, yielding well and requiring little care so they just started calling it Petite Sirah.

Prohibition

During Prohibition it was very popular among home winemakers, who were legally allowed to produce up to 200 gallons a year for personal consumption. The thick skins could handle the rough treatment in rail cars on the week long journey to the East coast market without starting to ferment, rot or turn to vinegar in the rail car. Furthermore the dark, tannic skins meant that by adding sugar and water to the must it could go much further and make more wine than just relying on the juice itself. As a result the grape was planted extensively during the 1920s. In those days Petite Sirah got the highest price per ton of any wine grape and growers had to guard their fields with armed guards at harvest time.

This had an additional impact; because growers could get more per ton for Petite Sirah there was tremendous pressure for vineyards to be labelled "Petite Sirah" regardless of what varietals it actually contained. The state capitulated, and confusion reigned for years after, with varietals such as Peloursin or Syrah (petite or otherwise) being labelled as Petite Sirah.

Nowadays it has limited popularity. From a financial viewpoint it's no more challenging than most other varietals. For growers, while it doesn't bring the price per ton of varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir or even Syrah, it does sell better than varietals such as Grenache and Mourvedre. If made well it should go through barrel aging and frequent racking, like Cabernet Sauvignon, but that probably results in an additional $1-$2 per bottle.

Less favoured grapes like Petite Sirah require passionate winemakers who really love the grape and want to stick with it no matter what. In most cases it's used as a blending grape - it adds colour, tannin and structure or mouthfeel, to wines that lack it. Quite often it is blended with Zinfandel, but as a minority. All that tannin and structure does mean that it ages well.

In California it is very popular for making Port style wines - it provides a lot of colour and flavour early in fermentation and doesn't especially need additional treading after the fermentation is halted. Additionally because the fermentation is stopped early the leftover pomace has sufficient sugar remaining that water could be added and a second fermentation induced, with the resulting product distilled to make brandy.

Labelling

So why isn’t the wine sold under the name Durif?

For a while that would have been illegal. The government department responsible for the labelling of wine has strict regulations on how wine can be labelled, and until 2002 the ATF considered Petite Sirah and Durif to be seperate varietals. In Australia there are upward of 30 producers who use the name Durif in several different areas, but the only US producer to consistently produce a wine labelled as Durif is Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. In 2002 the ATF decreed that Durif and Petite Sirah were synonymous, so either designation can be used. But since few people have heard of Durif there seems little point in changing. Several local producers make highly regarded examples of Petite Sirah, including Clos LaChance,David Bruce,Storrsand Sones. Across the bay in Contra Costa county, Rosenblum makes a "Heritage Clones" Petite Sirah carrying the San Francisco Bay appellation, from five vineyards at the foot of Mount Diablo.