The Tasting Panel magazine

January 2011

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VARIETALS Petite When Petite Sirah clusters ripening. PHOTO: JO DIAZ etite Sirah, with a name so similar to the Rhône varietal Syrah, may cause some confusion among wine consumers. But John Concannon, current President of P.S. I Love You, the Petite Sirah advocacy group, says that what shouldn’t be per- plexing is this grape’s affi nity for the hearty, spicy foods that often make pairing wine diffi cult. “Steak, barbecue, Asian food, anything with some heat,” John says. “It’s also great with dark chocolate.” But what exactly is Petite Sirah, anyway? P Durif or Dourif, mainly known in the U.S. as Petite Sirah, was named after François Durif, a botanist at the University of Montpellier in France, who discovered it in a nearby Peloursin vineyard in 1880. It now grows primarily in California, Australia, France and Israel. But viticultural areas as disparate as Washington, Maryland, Arizona, West Virginia, Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula, Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, even Brazil, Argentina and Chile have also 66 / the tasting panel / january–february 201 1 SoMetiMeS ConfUSinG, ALWAYS diStinCtiVe, PETITE SIRAH iS BiG on HeArt doesn’t Mean Little by Ben Weinberg

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