2016 Robert Foley Petite Sirah Napa Valley

This 100% Petite Sirah is a truly fruit-focused bottling. This is a massively extracted beauty with an elegant balance. Fully ripe blackberry aroma with a hint of graphite, the lushness on the palate is amazing with mouth- filling viscosity that resolves in a lingering soft finish with gentle tannin.
For lovers of big, extracted red wines, packed with flavor and fine tannins, this is the variety for you! Not to be confused with Syrah… Petite Sirah was originally discovered by a French botanist Francois Durif, working at the Montpellier Viti- cultural Institute in southern France. He found this variety growing in a Pelour- sin vineyard and discovered that it had good resistance to downy mildew and named it for himself, Durif.

Unfortunately, the tight clusters were prone to bunch rot and the wines that were produced were considered too big and tannic for the French palate and the variety was eliminated and is no longer found in France. It did make its way to California and other parts of the world where it is known as Petite Sirah. There is nothing “petite” about it – even the berries are very large and the wines can be enormous. The key to user friendliness is patience to allow the seeds to ripen, allowing the tannins to relax. Through genetics, it was determined that this variety was the result of pollination of a Peloursin flower with Syrah pollen.  96 cases produced.