Barrel-Tasting the 2007

One of the fun things about owning your own brand of wine is that you get to taste - er - drink it while it is developing, which is a great excuse for a party.

Today Nick, his wife Sandy (see photo), and son Jonathan (who didn’t drink), along with my wife Molly and I all tasted through samples of our four barrels of 2007 Panthos to make sure they were heading in the right direction.

We were very happy to find that none of them showed off aromas or flavors that would have cut production considerably.

Barrel #886 – 2005 Taransaud Allier forest French oak, medium toast, thin stave – was nice and fruity.

Barrel #756 – 2006 Demptos Limousin forest French oak, medium toast – had more, sweeter oak, and was overall excellent.

Barrel #904 – 2005 Taransaud Allier forest French oak, medium toast, thin stave – was more balanced, but had less fruit.

Barrel #757 – 2006 Demptos Limousin forest French oak, medium toast – was big and chewy with coffee flavors and dusty chocolate tannins on the finish, very interesting.

These differences were definitely the result of different potency and type of oak from the barrels.

The 2005 barrels had less extractable oak remaining and the Allier forest produces tighter-grained staves, which also slows extraction.

The 2006 barrels, on the other hand, had been used a year less and came from Limousin, which has more loosely-grained staves for greater extraction of oak.

Gerald Boyd on Petite Sirah

Just came across a very good article by Gerald Boyd that will get everyone up to speed with Petite Sirah.

You'll have to skip over the rant on heavy glass bottles, as ours tips the scales - or rather squashes the scales - at 3.95 lbs per full bottle. Not very environmentally friendly, but we also aren't making many. Heck, Nick and I will be lucky to get a couple of cases for our two families!

By the way, our first release, Lot 06 PANTHOS, includes 35% Petite Sirah in the blend, all from the amazing Belle Colline Vineyard, located on a hill in Clements.