Aaron Wines Petite Sirah 2020
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Jeb
Dunnuck
Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
The flagship wine that started it all. Deep aromatics of ripe red and black fruits, black pepper, and toasty oak give way to wild berry, black cherry liqueur, licorice, and smoked meats along a full bodied but elegant frame, with a great finish framed by new French oak.
Blend: 87% Petite Sirah, 13% Syrah
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Smoky black fruits, earth, peppery herbs, and graphite all emerge from the 2020 Petite Sirah, another quality wine displaying the more linear, focused, firmer style of the vintage.
Range: 90-92
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Aaron Wines began in 2002 with a focus on producing powerful, age-worthy wines from the rugged hillsides of westside Paso Robles. Always seeking to veer from the norm, Aaron found inspiration in creating blends that centered around one of California's greatest grapes — Petite Sirah. Utilizing vineyards from the most amazing sites their boots could find, they source intense yet balanced fruit from the Willow Creek, Adelaida, and Templeton Gap districts. From these sites they coax this massively structured varietal (along with Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot) into a portfolio of unique cuvees that evoke the best expression of westside Paso Robles terroir.
With its deep color, firm tannins and bold flavors, there is nothing petite about Petite Sirah. The variety, originally known as Durif in the Rhône, took on its more popular moniker after being imported to California in the early 1880s. Quintessentially recognized today as a grape of the Golden State, Petite Sirah works well blended with Zinfandel and finds success as a single varietal wine in the state’s warmer districts. Somm Secret—Petite Sirah is not a smaller version of Syrah but it is an offspring of Syrah and the now nearly extinct French Alpine variety called Peloursin.
Paso Robles has made a name for itself as a source of supple, powerful, fruit-driven Central Coast wines. But with eleven smaller sub-AVAs, there is actually quite a bit of diversity to be found in this inland portion of California’s Central Coast.
Just east over the Santa Lucia Mountains from the chilly Pacific Ocean, lie the coolest in the region: Adelaida, Templeton Gap and (Paso Robles) Willow Creek Districts, as well as York Mountain AVA and Santa Margarita Ranch. These all experience more ocean fog, wind and precipitation compared to the rest of the Paso sub-appellations. The San Miguel, (Paso Robles) Estrella, (Paso Robles) Geneso, (Paso Robles) Highlands, El Pomar and Creston Districts, along with San Juan Creek, are the hotter, more western appellations of the greater Paso Robles AVA.
This is mostly red wine country, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel standing out as the star performers. Other popular varieties include Merlot, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Grenache and Rhône blends, both red and white. There is a fairly uniform tendency here towards wines that are unapologetically bold and opulently fruit-driven, albeit with a surprising amount of acidity thanks to the region’s chilly nighttime temperatures.