Parducci “True Grit” Petite Syrah 2007

While I occasionally succumb to marketing ploys, I try very studiously to avoid having a wine label or shiny display influence my shopping decisions. So were I to see a wine labeled True Grit I most likely would have given it a pass. However, since Ms Cocktail was picking out wines for my blind tastings, what motivated her to pick up this wine is beyond me. I will say that I’m pretty happy that she did.

You see, most of the Petite Syrah (or Petite Sirah or Petit Syrah or any number of ways that it is spelled or misspelled on labels) that I come across are wildly out of balance with big fruit, too much tannin and an over abundance of alcohol. This wine is exactly opposite of that with nice fruit and a touch of spiciness from it’s time in oak. The only down fall to this wine is its price. It was a $25 bottle from the local wine shop but it can be found on line at $20. Even then, I believe that this wine is a touch over priced, if it was $15, I’d drink it all day long.

Tasting notes:

This is a clear, deep ruby colored wine with legs. It has a clean, developing nose of blackberry and cedar. It has medium acidity, medium(+) alcohol, medium(+) tannins and medium body. It has medium intense flavors of blackberry, black currant and cedar with a medium long finish. It is a good, mid-priced wine that is ready to drink but will improve in the bottle.

BTW, I missed this one in the blind tasting. As you can see from my notes above, I called it a mid-priced wine, I also called it an Australian Shiraz. The big fruit up front on this wine had me thinking it came from a hot, dry area and the balance I got in this wine didn’t lend me to believe that it came from the Petite Syrah grape.