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What We Say 2007 'Perdition' Napa Valley Petite Sirah
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Mission Codename: Only sinfully delicious…
Operative: Agent White
Objective: Acquire a sinfully delicious Petite Sirah for our operatives.
Mission Status: Accomplished!
Current Winery: Revolver Wine Co. (Page Wine Cellars)
Wine Subject: 2007 ‘Perdition’ Napa Valley Petite Sirah
Winemaker: Bryan Page
Backgrounder: Petite Sirah’s California roots dates back to when it was believed to be a close relative of the Syrah grape. Later it would be found to be genetically identical to the Durif, named for its after French discoverer François Durif who found that the varietal was a Syrah grape pollinated with Peloursin flowers. Its smaller berries with higher skin to pulp ratio leads to more intense flavors. Another benefit of the smaller berries are tighter clusters that are more resistant to mildew. Currently Petite Sirah is less popular in France and increasingly popular in the United States.
Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Dense and dark garnet and purple with a nearly black clear but seemingly inky core. Along the edges, the color shows its inky garnet hues and when swirled, slow and randomly spaced thin legs stain the side of the glass.
Smell – Bold aromas of ripe and pulpy black and red fruit including black cherry and blueberries blend with complex notes of dark earth, sweetwood and exotic and hot white pepper spice.
Feel – Smooth and plush, but definitely textured, this full-bodied dry wine is expansive and chewy on the palate. Its firm tannins balance against softer acidity and textured etched minerality.
Taste – Layers of ripe blackberries, black cherry and wild raspberry linger with smokey and toasted oak, restrained but present hot and exotic spice along with dark minerality and black licorice notes.
Finish – Medium to long in length, this wine’s smooth but textured mouthfeel lingers as the ripe and dense black-fruit, sweetwood, smoke and spice fades and invites another sip.
Conclusion – The 2007 Revolver Wine Co. ‘Perdition’ Napa Valley Petite Sirah is a delicious and voluptuous Petite Sirah. An inviting fruit plush nose greets you as the etched and textured structure that grasps the fruit and other complex flavors and holds on for several minutes. Give this wine some time to open up. Drink now or cellar for the next five years. We paired this wine with grilled sweet-barbecue steak tips.
Mission Report:
SUBJECT: Bryan Page
WINE EDUCATION: Degree in Culinary Arts from CCA. Degree from Restaurant Management and Entrepreneurship from UNLV and Coursework in Enology at UC Davis and Napa CC.
CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: Started in the cellars at Truchard Vineyards and Haven. Thenstarted Page 1997.
WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: Work with Mother Nature to produce food friendly wines.
WINEMAKER QUOTE: “Don’t eat yellow snow”
FIRST COMMERCIAL WINE RELEASE: 1997 Proprietary Red – released in 1999
WINEMAKER INTERVIEW
AGENT RED: Greetings, Bryan. We are thrilled to be showing your 2007 Perdition Napa Valley Petite Sirah today. Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.
BRYAN PAGE: Rockin to be here!
RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?
BRYAN: Julia Childs
RED: Brilliant answer! What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?
BRYAN: Tasting the 1982 Chateau Petrus and 1982 Chateau Cheval Blanc blind.
RED: Who do you make wine for?
BRYAN: I have had the great fortune of working in almost every role in the food and wine business from bar back to executive chef, server to sommelier and eventually winemaker. Our goal is to create the most food friendly hand crafted artisanal wines in the Napa Valley while surrounding ourselves with wonderful people who wish to share in our passion.
RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today.
BRYAN: Petite Sirah is kind of an enigma. I wanted to create a Petite Sirah that doesn’t have any residual sugar and is not overly tannic. I designed this wine to be a wonderful food accompaniment. This Petite Sirah works beautifully with BBQ.
RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?
BRYAN: BBQ pork shoulders.
RED: In your opinion, what makes the Yountville region so special?
BRYAN: Cooler climate than upper Napa valley, so fruit gets a longer hang-time to develop richer complexity. In addition, the prolonged hang-time lead to fuller flavors while maintaining higher acid levels.
RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?
BRYAN: Bottling, bottling and more bottling.
RED: ‘Tis the season, right? How would you recommend people approach your wines and wine in general?
BRYAN: Most people find our wines very approachable. We leave our wine in barrel a longer generally 24 to 36 months which means that is generally softer upon release. Our wines are well balanced and complex, but meant to be enjoyed with good food and great company. At the end of the day wine is about getting to the table, sharing and enjoying life.
RED: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
BRYAN: Visit us at our Yountville Tasting Saloon or make an appointment to visit our “garage” winery in downtown Napa.
RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!
Wine Spies Vineyard Check:
The approximate location of the Page Wine Cellars Tasting Room where you can sample this wine and many other delicious selections, can be seen in this satellite photo.
What the Winery Says
Revolver Wine Co.
About This Wine:
This is the inaugural vintage of Revolver Wine Company’s Petite Sirah. We are excited to release what we consider a robust and intoxicating wine perfect for summer time Barbeque. The 2007 Perdition displays an assortment of hearty aromas starting with crushed black pepper, dark berry and finishing with fragrances of sandal wood and dry earth. On the pallet Perdition has a smooth round texture, in which the distinctive flavors of blackberry, white pepper and mesquite wood come through. The intense fruit for this vintage beckons from vineyards just south of Yountville and Chiles Valley.
The image on the label was captured in a small town in the Sierra Nevada long since abandoned. The labels for the Revolver Wine Co feature locations and images from an iconic part of American history more generally referred to as the “old west.” This genre of America’s past is typified by the legendary escapades of historical figures like Wyatt Earp and Butch Cassidy. The rugged and rebellious lifestyle of the American frontiersman is the inspiration behind the Revolver Wine Co. Rustic and authentic, our minimalistic approach to winemaking harkens back to the days of old in which American Pioneers had to forgo the use of so many modern tools and techniques to craft their spirits.
About The Winery:
First the name! Winemaker Bryan Page was born in 1966, the same year that the Beatles released the epic Revolver album, you know, Taxman, Good Day Sunshine, and Tomorrow Never Knows. The departure from the Page label was almost like a born again winemaker looking to spread his wings for the first time, again — Revolver happened to be one of his favorite albums, and it had a feel much like the wines he wanted to make, a bit rebellious and edgy.
Conceptually, the Revolver label was created to feature single varietal wines that did not fit into the Page Wine Cellars blends that truly only reflect the cepages of two distinct parts of Bordeaux. A new outlet for a rock n roll winemaker was born! The bottles are adorned in all black in tribute to another winery favorite rocker, Johnny Cash, and to top it off, literally, we hand dip all of our Revolver bottles in black wax paying homage to Maker’s Mark. Bourbon seems to be present at the end of many long harvest days in the fall.
It may all sound a bit fanciful, but these wines rock and roll! The initial varietal chosen for the Revolver brand was Cabernet Franc, knick named, “the fury”. An unsung hero in many wine circles, Franc tends to be finicky in the cellar, and generally is used in blending Bordeaux style wines, but as we have come to know, behind every great Napa Cab, is an even better Cabernet Franc!
Upcoming varietals to be made under the label are Merlot, Petite Syrah, and Syrah.
Technical Analysis:
Varietals: Petit Sirah with just a touch of Syrah
Alcohol: 14.5
Aging: Aged 26 months in French oak barrels, 33% new.
Production: 179 Cases
