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Mission Codename: Burly Not Girly

Operative: Agent White

Objective: Return to Operative favorite, Peterson Winery and acquire an allocation of their highly coveted Shinbone Shiraz/Cabernet Blend.

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Peterson Winery

Wine Subject: 2007 Shinbone Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Winemaker: Jamie Peterson

Backgrounder:

Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley is a treasure trove of great wines. While The Wine Spies have been trying to keep from acquiring too many wines from the region when the wines are great, so why not? Today’s selection is a delicious blend of 60% Shiraz form the Olson vineyard and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Enos Vineyard.

Shiraz, while genetically the same as Syrah, this grape adopts its local character and Terroir to become distinctly Dry Creek in style. Incidentally, the name Shiraz comes from the capital of Fars (Persia) even though this grape traces its roots back to French breeding.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Deep and dense dark purple with an almost blackish inky core that when held to the light shows just hints of garnet in its core. Along the edges, the color remains deep garnet purple and when swirled, randomly spaced slow color laden legs ring the glass.

Smell – Rich, bold and ripe dark black-fruit aromas including plush blackberry meld with a solid mocha cocoa component, spice, layers of oak and a touch of meaty leather.

Feel – Smooth and dry, this full-bodied wine has firm but plush tannins, balanced acidity and a touch of dark minerality that coats the palate, is chewy in the mouth and lingers long into the finish.

Taste – Dark and black spiced and ripe fruit lead the way with the brambly wild blackberry from the nose leading the way. Layers of oak and licorice, cocoa, cigar tobacco, a hint of pungent spice on the side of the tongue and leather notes all blend together providing a generous and rich flavor profile.

Finish – Long and lingering with this wine’s ripe and rich fruit lingering and fading just before the solid structure of this wine fades.

Conclusion – The 2005 Peterson Winery Shinbone Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon Blend definitely fits in Peterson’s ‘burly not girly’ category. Big fruit and other complex notes on the nose, a solid rich and chewy mouth-feel that grips and holds on tight, fantastic blackberry fruit flavors with cocoa, spice and oak and other classic Shiraz and Cab flavors just keep coming. A fun wine that will find itself perfectly at home when you fire up the barbecue!

Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: Jamie Peterson

DATE OF BIRTH: March 20, 1981

PLACE OF BIRTH: Saratoga, CA (Mt. Eden Vineyards)

WINE EDUCATION: Ongoing, on-the-job. UC Davis Extension chemistry/lab analysis/viticulture classes.

CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: Grew up in Peterson Winery, helping with odd jobs in the winery and vineyard as a teenager. Worked first harvest at 19, and then traveled to Australia and New Zealand to work harvest in 2001. took over as Assistant Winemaker at Peterson Winery in 2002. Given full Winemaker responsibility in 2006.

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: “Zero Manipulation”/Minimal intervention, letting the vineyard and vintage show through in each bottling. No fining, no filtration. Minimal new oak usage, minimal additions and SO2 use.

SIGNATURE VARIETAL: Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel.

WINEMAKER QUOTE: ”If it ain’t got the root, it ain’t got the fruit.”

FIRST COMMERCIAL WINE RELEASE: 2002 Vintage, released in 2004

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WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT WHITE: Greetings, Jamie. We are thrilled to be showing your 2007 Shinbone, today. We love the wine!! Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today. And, thanks for making such amazing wines!

JAMIE: Thank you for giving me the time.

WHITE: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

JAMIE: It’d be hard to pick one. Growing up with the sights, sounds, and smells of the winery and vineyards, there were many inspirational moments. But I didn’t think I’d be getting into the life of wine as deeply as I have until I worked harvests in 2001 in Australia and New Zealand. Seeing the international wine community and how it ties people together made me decide to come back to the family winery and join full time in 2002.

WHITE: And where did you learn the most about winemaking?

JAMIE: From my father, growing up in the winery, and being able to learn on the job.

*WHITE *: What is your winemaking style or philosophy?

JAMIE: I believe that vineyard and vintage driven wines are the only reason for small wineries to exist. I prefer wines from different vintages to reflect the growing season (otherwise why put the vintage on the bottle?) rather than use additives (acid, tannins, enzymes, gum arabic, overblown new oak) or technological processes (filtration, alcohol removal, micro-oxygenation) to create wines that taste the same each year. I don’t filter or fine our wines, and I predominantly use native yeast fermentations and malo-lactics, so we have to keep things clean and monitor closely, as we don’t choose to use the tools for fixing mistakes that some wineries do. We source from the same vineyards each year, so there is a thread of continuity running through vintages. Our vineyards are sustainably farmed, with a few certified organic, and a number of others dry-farmed.

WHITE: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

JAMIE: I’m inspired by European vintners who have made wines from the same places for generations, and haven’t succumbed to commercialism.

WHITE: How long have you been making wine?

JAMIE: 2002 was my first full year of working with wines from grape to bottle. 2000 was the first full harvest I worked with my father. At 28, I have 12 harvests under my belt (including working in both Australia and New Zealand in 2001).

WHITE: Who do you make wine for?

JAMIE: I make wines for my own tastes, and then we find enough people that share our ideas to buy it. We don’t submit our wines for scoring or competitions.

WHITE: Tell me, what makes the Dry Creek Valley so special?

JAMIE: The Dry Creek Valley features and amazing array of soil types and exposures for such a geographically small area, leading to a diverse range of flavors and subtleties in wines, even of the same varietal. This is why we make multiple single-vineyard Zinfandels, and it also helps us make varietal wines with complex flavors from blending from different parts of the valley, such as our Petite Sirah.

WHITE: What is one piece of advice that you would give to someone that is considering a career as a winemaker?

JAMIE: Realize that winemaking is both simple and complicated. It’s all just fermented grape juice, but it’s all about the details; every minute little thing you do or don’t do to the grapes or wine will affect how it turns out.

WHITE: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

JAMIE: We’ll be bottling the majority of our 2008 reds in the next couple months. We’re keeping an eye on and tasting the 2009 wines in barrel (which are great, by the way), and starting to think about potential blends. We’re checking on the newly awakened vineyards as well, and seeing how the start of the growing is season is progressing.

WHITE: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today

JAMIE: The Shinbone was born out of a progression of influences and events coming together. Both my father and I have spent time in wineries in Australia, where Shiraz is king (or duke… since Cabernet Sauvignon is probably really “king” everywhere…), and they create some very nice blends with it. In 2006, our grapegrowing neighbor and friend Dave Olson had some Syrah grapes he was looking to sell that made more of the soft, fruity “Shiraz” style wine than we were getting from our own mountain vineyard, and we jumped at the chance to take the fruit. The resulting wine inspired us to try blending with the darker, structured hillside Cab, and the blend was born. The Shinbone label was an idea our designer, Chris Blum, had been working on, and we felt it fit the wine perfectly with the strong yet fun image and style.

WHITE: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

JAMIE: This wine is perfect with something off the ‘barbie (BBQ); Smoked ribs, with a tangy sauce. We describe this wine as a bit of “yin and yang, sweet and sour” wine, with sweet fruit from the Shiraz, and nice tangy acidity from the Cabernet.

WHITE: Please share one thing about yourself that few people know

JAMIE: I like to go mushroom hunting (for chanterelles and porcini), even though as a teenager I accidently picked and ate Death Cap mushrooms.

WHITE: What is your favorite ‘everyday’ or table wine?

JAMIE: Zinfandel is the wine I seem to open the most often of our own, but I also drink a lot of Rhone wines, and wines from the Ventoux.

WHITE: How would you recommend that people approach your wines, or wine in general?

JAMIE: So many people look for the “best” wine. I always ask them “best for what?” Every wine has a place and time for appreciating (unless it just is a wine that really sucks…), and it’s more important for people to figure out what types of wine they like, and why, than what others think is the best. Trust your own palate rather than what a critic or others say.

WHITE: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and about your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

JAMIE: Thanks for having me, and for appreciating and featuring our wines!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Peterson Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Peterson Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.