petite syrah

[cpurvis]

Two part answer B: 1)Syrah figures in the genetic history of p. syrah, but 2)P.Syrah is certainly no "less exciting" than syrah when well made. Given the choice, I'd reach for p. syrah.

The history & importance of p. syrah & the historic interplay between the two varietals is thoroughly explained in an article by Dennis Fife, of Fife Vineyards. You can read the online version at: http://www.aboutwines.com/home/reference/ask/guest/fife_petitesirah.html?

Regarding the "less exciting" part of your question, here's an excerpt from the article:

"We typically have blind tastings of California's top Syrahs and Petite Sirahs every few months. Our guests are all quite knowledgeable, all in the wine business, and about half are syrah winemakers. We have yet to have a tasting where it was possible to separate the Syrahs from Petite Sirahs with any confidence. And often no one identifies them all correctly. (Our experience is that low quality Syrah tends to be light, out of balance, and with little character and low quality Petite Sirah tends to be rough and tannic. Thus they are fairly easy to separate. But great wines of these two varieties are separated mostly by winemaking style and the terroir. Petite Sirah tends to be pretty dense, but so are many top Syrahs - and so are many of our favorite wines from the Cote Rôtie)."

cp

BTW, if ya' like big flavor & haven't tried Fife reds (incl. p.syrah & zin), then put 'em on yer list.

[This message has been edited by cpurvis (edited 04-04-2001).]