2007 Turley Petite Sirah Pesenti Vineyard
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Tasting notes
Deep, saturated ruby to the rim. Brooding aromas of crushed black fruits, licorice and nuts. Sweet, dense, superripe and thick, with saline and medicinal elements to the crushed cherry and strawberry flavors. Finishes with fairly sweet but serious tannins and lingering pepper and spice notes. A distinctly low-toned petite sirah: I found myself wishing for a bit more primary fruit.
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Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The dense purple-colored 2007 Petite Syrah Pesenti Vineyard (limestone hillsides) boasts huge body, great acidity for a wine of such mass and substance, and an almost impenetrable, broodingly backward personality. This monster should only be purchased by true connoisseurs who have cool cellars, and the patience to wait for this wine to come around. Give it 5-10 years of bottle age, and drink it over the following 30+ years. As always, a mind-boggling array of Zinfandels and Petite Syrahs has been produced by the world’s premier Zinfandel specialist, Larry Turley. He deserves remarkable credit for his “holy grail” quest to locate largely forgotten parcels of old Zinfandel vines, and preserve as many of these historic sites as possible. Like most Zinfandels, Turley’s are best drunk during their first 5-6 years of life, although in certain vintages, some wines can handle a decade worth of cellaring. However, the glory of Zinfandel is its youthful, exuberant, flamboyant, spicy, peppery, briery fruit. It will not achieve greater complexity or flavor dimension by extended cellaring. All of these Zinfandels come from dry-farmed vineyards, a majority of them being old head-pruned sites planted by Italian immigrants in the late 19th century. The wines are aged in 20% new French oak, and are bottled with little clarification. Total production for Turley Wine Cellars is slightly more than 15,000 cases. They also make a small quantity of white wine. No one makes more concentrated or ageworthy wines than Larry Turley’s Petite Syrahs. This is California’s most underrated, long-lived varietal, and having had experience with 20-30 year old Petite Sirahs, they actually do improve in the bottle, becoming remarkably civilized with outstanding aging potential. They can match Cabernet Sauvignon for the longest lived varietal in California, but they can be so impenetrable, thick, and broodingly backward in their youth that only a small number of consumers follow them. Tel. (707) 963-0940; Fax (707) 963-8683
About the producer
Founded in 1993, Turley Cellars is a leading name in California Zinfandel and Petite Syrah. The winery has helped preserve the state’s old-vine heritage, farming historic vineyards organically and producing distinctive single-vineyard wines known for their character and longevity.