90 Robert Parker - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"Fashioned from 40-year-old dry-farmed vineyards in northern Napa Valley, this dense purple-colored 2005 reveals high tannins, impressive extract, plenty of blue and black fruits, and notions of graphite and earth. It is a well-built wine, but patience will be required. Cellar it for 5-6 years and drink it over the following 25." -90 points Robert Parker

WINEMAKER
"Back in 1979, Gary Brookman was on vacation as a young tourist in Australia and ran out of money. It was harvest season Down Under, and he found a temporary job at Toranga Winery. The budding wine man worked the season in the cellar before returning home to the United States. Apparently, wine was in his blood, and Gary moved to the Napa Valley in 1980, where he found work at Charles Krug Winery. Soon afterwards, he made a move to Joseph Phelps Vineyards, where he rose through the ranks over the course of a 13-year tenure there to become Associate Winemaker. In 1997, Miner Family hired Gary as winemaker, and still makes their wines today." -Grace Family Winery

Brookman is the winemaker at Carver Sutro, Grace Family, and Miner Family.

VARIETAL
"Petite Sirah is often compared to Syrah in taste and body. However, knowledgeable winemakers agree that the Syrah is an easier grape to grow than Petite Sirah. One of the challenges facing Petite Sirah growers is its "low vigor" and grapes that are about half the size of a Syrah." Petite Syrah, much like Zinfandel, is often considered America's Grape and has developed a loyal following on this side of the Atlantic."

"Our Petite Sirah is actually considered a Durif varietel named after the master grape breeder Durif in the late 19th century. He cross-bred Syrah and Peloursin to create a truly distinctive grape with saturated color and dense fruit, much like the Syrah from which it was derived." -Winery

VINEYARD
"Palisades Vineyard sits in a small riparian valley northeast of Calistoga in the northern end of the Napa Valley. It is bisected by an occasionally torrential Horns Creek, and is blessed with the kind of cobbley loam soil and very hot summers that are perfectly suited for growing for growing both Rhone and Bordeaux style wines."

"The tradition of grape growing at Palisades Vineyard dates to 1902 when Domenico Barberis, an immigrant from the small village of Murialdo in Genoa, Italy, came to California to find work and make a safe homestead for the family he did not yet have. Gilda Stella (whom Domenico had not met until she came to California at the urging of one of the other Barberis brothers) joined Domenico after he had secured work in the Calistoga mines. He had found the property that became Palisades Vineyard before Gilda arrived; together they planted it to its first vines soon after their wedding." -Winery

WINERY INFORMATION
"Old vine Petite Sirah enjoys a particular chemistry in Northern California, where it can produce wines of spectacular color, intense fruit, and brawny structure. Carver Sutro optimizes this style. Summer temps can reach up to 110 degrees in this far northern corner of Napa Valley. While most vines date back to the 1960's, some were planted more than 100 years ago."

"Bottled in August of 2007, this wine came through one of the wettest growing seasons in memory. 25 inches of rain in the spring of that harvest year was almost 300% of normal, which led to happy dry-farmed vines in early Fall when the 15 foot deep roots were still finding moisture to help them ripen the fruit." -Distributor