1996 Stags Leap Petite Syrah

[Innkeeper]

St Francis (the original one) said, "Preach always, using words when necessary." The front label of this wine says, "Stags Leap, Napa Valley, Petite Syrah, 1996, alc 13.9% by volume." The back label has the government warning, the fact that the wine contains sulfites, and that the wine was produced and bottled at the winery. This means, as Foodie would point out, that they didn't grow all the grapes. The name of the wine is incorrect. It is a Petite Sirah. For some reason they have always called it Petite Syrah.

The preaching is all in the bottle. Bought it six years ago at the suggestion of one MR Dutton, from Pops for $26. Since that was just about the most I'd ever spent for a bottle of wine, I called the winery asked them when to drink it. The answer was '05, and we got around to it tonight.

A fleshed out, well made PS is one of life's great experiences. Comparable to a fleshed out Brunello (in experience, not similarity).

This one gave strong red and black fruit and pepper on the nose and on the tongue tip. In the middle was the reason you wait for certain wines. An almost undescribable elixir of complex spicy morphed fruit in an almost perfectly balance wine that had been treated badly by us, and still survived in splender. The finish went on and on.

We matched it with roast leg of lamb with small red roasted potatoes, and salad in vinaigrette. Even after finishing that salad we could drink the last of the wine and love it all over again.