2012 R&B Cellars Petite Sirah ‘Pizzicato’ Napa Valley

This Petite Sirah is dark, powerfully flavored, and intense. The flavors of blueberry, black currant, and dark plum tones explode and then resonate in your mouth. This wine luxuriated for 48 months in 100% French oak, allowing the perfect amount of time in barrel  to fully integrate with the complex flavorings of the French oak. We then moved the wine to neutral oak barrels to finish the gentle aging process.

One moment, there’s dark chocolate enticing your senses, then some exotic spice moves in and dances on your tongue. As the name Pizzicato denotes, this wine has lots of “pluck” – so you better be ready for some serious wine. In matching with food, big flavors only need apply!   

Vineyards: Bingham Ranch is one of the oldest vineyards in the Napa Valley. It has been in the same family since the mid 1800’s, homesteading times, and was planted with vineyards in the 1950’s. The Petite Sirah was planted in the 1980’s, and is on the northern edge of the ranch. It is a small berry clone that benefits from extended hang time for optimal ripeness.

The Wine: Harvested in mid October in perfect conditions, then hand sorted, and crushed and de-stemmed into half ton macro fermenting bins. A three-day cold soak was done before fermentation. Hand punched down twice a day during fermentation and then gently pressed off and put into 100% French oak barrels. The wine was racked four times while aging in barrels, and then lightly filtered for bottling. 3% 2012 Zinfandel was added in the final blend to soften the edges. 97% Petite Sirah and 3% Zinfandel. 110 cases produced.