2001 Chiarello Roux Old Vine Petite Sirah

[dananne]

This Napa bruiser comes from the Chiarello family's 93-year-old PS vines that he coaxed back into production in '98. We wanted a cold weather wine last night, as the Atlanta weather has been colder than usual (which, for those of you in the Great White North isn't really cold at all, but I've become somewhat of a wimp after living down here for nearly 20 years). This one fit the bill nicely. We decanted for about 30 minutes before 1st pour. Opaque purple (as expected) in the glass, with room-filling, powerful aromas of black and blue berries and wet slate. Good fruit up front, with pretty substantial, yet polished tannins holding it together in the middle. Finish is long and shows the oak treatment, but falls short of being an oaky wine (18 months in French oak, but only 50% new oak). Though big, it carries a perfectly reasonable 13.8% alc., so it would do nicely with foods such as roasted meat, cassoulet, or other hearty winter fare. Miniscule production of 100 cases would make it hard to find. We picked it up at a local wine shop for about $38, though it runs $44 on the winery web site. It was our only bottle, but if we had another, I'd drink it sometime in the next 3 years and not necessarily sit on it much longer.