2003 Foppiano Petite Sirah

Yesterday was basically a wasted day. Little got done other than grocery shopping and making sure the recliner didn't feel slighted. There was an attempt to watch two movies, and both attempts ended in a nap. Fortunately the movies are recorded and I can pick up on them later. Even breakfast and lunch were combined and consisted of some Kung Pao noodles in sauce all done in the microwave.

By the time evening came I was most definitely hungry and my personal battery which had been running on low all week was recharged with the two lengthy naps.

The motivation was for dinner came in the form of two lamb chops that were on sale earlier in the day. They were sprinkled with lemon pepper, rosemary and lemon thyme and grilled to barely medium. While the charcoal was heating we cooked up a risotto. Not having much on hand we pulled out some mixed, dried mushrooms, soaked them in water and used both the mushrooms and some of the broth for the risotto. There was one little shot of the Condrieu from a couple of nights ago and it went into the mixture as well. Chicken stock, a few fresh herbs and grated Asiago cheese finished off the dish.

The wine was a 2003 Foppiano Petite Sirah from the Russian River Valley near Sonoma in California. Foppiano has always been my go-to producer for Petite Sirah. No one does it as consistently as these folks, and the 2003 was no exception. Dark purple in the glass the nose was all about dark berries, a very dark plum, a little cinnamon and a little chocolate powder. All those flavors were there and a little black pepper was thrown into the mix. It was a mouthful. Petite Sirah is never a soft wine and the tannins here were prominent, but they were soft and thoroughly integrated from start to finish. The wine was 14.5% alcohol, but was so balanced that it tasted like less.

With the meal it was hard to pick a favorite, lamb and wine or risotto and wine. The slight gaminess in the lamb picked up black pepper and the chocolate in the wine while the mushrooms in the risotto played with the fruit. In the end it made no difference, both were great. I love a wine that matches well and matches differently with two or more components of a meal and this wine did that in spades. As I've said before, I don't score wines because I dislike that idea, but I will score the experience of this meal and the way the wine and food matched up with each other. It was a 98.