Kent Rasmussen Esoterica Petite Sirah - 3 Pack
$59.99 + $5 shipping
CONDITION: Red
PRODUCTS:
1 2008 Esoterica Petite Sirah
2 2007 Esoterica Petite Sirah
CT links above

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I have purchased Rasmussen wines in the past. I will check my cellar and see if I have any remaining. I do remember that I liked it the last time we partook.

Love KR, love PS.

I'm going to be dropping a lot of money at tomorrow's Dark & Delicious silent auction.

I'm on an airplane right now.

And any woot even featuring KRPS is an automatic in for 3, no questions asked, no matter my finances (or which organs or bodily fluids I have to sell to finance it). The fact that this is all PS, and it's a mini-vertical to boot, just makes it all the better.

Kent, I don't think we'll be seeing you pouring tomorrow night, but if you want to show up and drink with us (and drink more afterwards!) you should feel more than welcome.

Do not PaSs on this PSeriously awesome wine.

Looks like Ursa has a playmate. How will these stack up? And can we drink these without feeling guilty inside of a 20 year window?

Esoterica by Kent Rasmussen 2007 Chavez-Leeds Vineyard Petite Sirah; 94 points and Editors’ Choice, Wine Enthusiast:

"94 Points!
Very dry and tannic, as Petite Sirah should be. But unlike many “Pets,” it’s also balanced
and elegant. The official alcohol is only 13.5%, yet there’s not a trace of greenness. In
fact, the wine, which has plenty of French oak, is quite rich in blackberry and black
currant flavors. Really a superb example, a Petite Sirah for Cabernet fans. Should evolve
interestingly for many years."

lassow wrote:Looks like Ursa has a playmate. How will these stack up? And can we drink these without feeling guilty inside of a 20 year window?

Get 3, and see how they age. Seriously, you won't be disappointed.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- KRPS was my gateway drug. It's a lovely wine, and an even better learning experience.

Kent, PS, and rats - this should be great!

Starting it off - can we have BRIX at harvest, residual sugar, and some cooperage info for these?

Thank You!

Kent, where's the fruit in this one from?

Mostly Leeds-Chavez vineyard again, I take it?

Giddy Happy First Time Wine Woot Labratier


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=395918&l=4cb9d66dab&id=100000979054956


Well, its Kent Rasmussen Petite Sirah – NO LAB RATS NECESSARY TO SELL THIS WINE! I am thrilled to be a 1st time lab rat for Woot. Shocking! I have zero quality posts so lower your expectations all of youse! After last week’s brouhaha over lab rats, please don’t ask if I spit or swallow. No one should ask a lady that… Even about wine! ;)

What: 2008 Esoterica Petite Sirah, Leeds-Chavez Vineyard. 14.5% AC. Label says Rutherford Napa Valley.

When: Decanting began 5 PM. Bottle had been resting (unlike me who worked worked and then worked worked more) since 1 PM in wine fridge.

Who: Me, my husband, and neighbor Tony.

Reader’s Digest Version: Awesome mesmerizing color, smooth, medium bodied wine. Very pleasant. Hint of pepper, blackberries, and plum – after a few hours, slight vanilla comes through. Recommend it. Would like to get a bottle or two, then try it again after cellaring for a year or three.

Long Version: - (whoa, someone is a Verbose!)

Initial notes: Wonderful garnet red color with hint of purple, inky as expected. Floral aroma, like an old garden from my husband’s boyhood home in Point Loma wooded area. Slight pepper smell to the cork.

Initial taste: (15 minutes) a very small pour: Earthy dry wine, not a fruit bomb or fruit tart. Taste more floral/garden. Woodsy smell. Most precisely, smells like the inside of a pipe organ chest, says HWMBO husband Dennis who knows his pipes (had a 32 rank pipe organ in our house at one time and one wonders why I drink a lot). Remarkably, no hotness or alcohol burns from initial taste. Alcohol content is 14.5% - thought there would be some heat, happy me!

30 minutes: Another small taste: Fruit is coming forward more. Slight plum notes. Blackberries? Still an earthy grass field tone to the wine, surprising not an overwhelming fruit aroma. Subtle and smooth. Slight pepper. Medium body.

60 minutes: Wine has opened up. Moderate aroma but still subdued garden/floral bouquet. Taste more plum; still a bit of blackberries. Pepper is fading. Nice dry, smooth wine. Very faint vanilla coming through at the end.

It was nearing time for dinner: Dennis, is having seared rare ahi tuna, with a balsamic red wine reduction, wild rice. I am trying to preserve my taste-buds, and am pretending mentally (not physically, drats) to be a Victoria Secret model to save my less than educated taste buds (will starve for wine!)

Tony, Italian Labrat (he buys barrels of wine from Paso Robles, stores, bottles and sells down here in San Diego) has a more critical palate than we do. Full body, balanced, overall impression good. Not a prevalent fruit aroma. Gave us more bottles of his wine and said, drink this next. (Enablers, I am surrounded by enablers!)

(90 to 120 minutes) Final Tasting: Blackberries most prevalent for fruit slight herbal (rosemary like) undertones. Flavors linger longer, balance better, and dry finish. Aroma is not forward; I love the smell of most wine and am having troubles catching a strong whiff of much with this one.

Conclusion: Definitely would order this wine if we were out in a restaurant and saw it on their wine list. Nice pleasing smooth taste – Seems like it is a little young, and may come into its own more in a year or two. Love the color – dark and dreamy and luscious, inviting everyone to take a dip. I was looking for Rutherford lusty dusty in the flavors but never had that fully come through.

Wine Preferences: Always red wine. Typically go gaga for full body dry wines, Cabs, Zins, Bordeaux. Favorite wines of past that we bought cases of: 2008 Sequana Sarmento Pinot Noir, 2000 Clos du Bos, 2005 Chateau Potelle Mt Veeder Zinfandel VGS, the wootilicious Scott Harveys (Cathedral is wonderful), Atlas Peak, and of course the woot darling Corison.


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Caveat: We tend to appreciate wine more than we critique it. Hopefully we didn’t pooch up too badly being Wine Woot Lab Rat Virgins, but we gave it our best. We really are thrilled to be able to lab rat – and are Uber-Thrilled that it was for Esoterica! Made a less than stellar week pretty awesome! Thanks woot!

Does the 13.5% alcohol in the 2007 seem a bit on the low side for a PS?

lassow wrote:Does the 13.5% alcohol in the 2007 seem a bit on the low side for a PS?

Very much so! This is a food-friendly PS, not a fruit-and-oak bomb. It's still a big wine, but a PS that you don't need to throw wild boar, grass-fed flatiron, or game meat at.

PetiteSirah wrote:Get 3, and see how they age. Seriously, you won't be disappointed.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- KRPS was my gateway drug. It's a lovely wine, and an even better learning experience.

Wish we had the space for more, but I'm capped at 1 order. The longer-term juice is slowly taking over too much space in the two fridges.

unwoofer wrote:Giddy Happy First Time Wine Woot Labratier

Caveat: We tend to appreciate wine more than we critique it. Hopefully we didn’t pooch up too badly being Wine Woot Lab Rat Virgins, but we gave it our best. We really are thrilled to be able to lab rat – and are Uber-Thrilled that it was for Esoterica! Made a less than stellar week pretty awesome! Thanks woot!

Sounded great to me (rpm would be proud, I think). Thank you!

Kent Rasmussen. Auto-buy based on everything I have learned from Wooters. Jumped on it immediately and got max of 3. First sucker. Woot!

Kent, when would you recommend as the best year(s) to drink these?

edit: I should have listed to the vintner voicemail first:

"Drink it old, or drink it young."

Good young for about 8 years, then in dumb phase for 10-15 years. Wow - I just don't know if I can be that patient!

I can't say no! I have purchased more wine on this SIWBM....

I'm in. Again. Thank God I worked double for this pay period.

PetiteSirah wrote:I'm going to be dropping a lot of money at tomorrow's Dark & Delicious silent auction.

I'm on an airplane right now.

And any woot even featuring KRPS is an automatic in for 3, no questions asked, no matter my finances (or which organs or bodily fluids I have to sell to finance it). The fact that this is all PS, and it's a mini-vertical to boot, just makes it all the better.

Kent, I don't think we'll be seeing you pouring tomorrow night, but if you want to show up and drink with us (and drink more afterwards!) you should feel more than welcome.

Do not PaSs on this PSeriously awesome wine.

Thanks - I don't see how I can resist this one.

Does anyone else think this is a tad evil to put up autobuy PS when many are already going to D&D. Arghh!!!!

Has anyone considered organizing a wine storage commune with nearby w.wooters?

I tasted at the KR tasting room back in August '10. Excellent, excellent, excellent.

A fantastic deal.

PetiteSirah wrote:
Do not PaSs on this PSeriously awesome wine.

In for two... God, I spend too much money on wine...

trifecta wrote:Does anyone else think this is a tad evil to put up autobuy PS when many are already going to D&D. Arghh!!!!

Not if we're stuck on the East Coast playing D&D.

Corrado wrote:Is Vermont falling out of favor as a wine.woot friendly ship-to state? Seems like we're off this list more & more these days. I'm severely disappointed that I can't be in on this!

Same sad face in CT...

PetiteSirah wrote:I'm going to be dropping a lot of money at tomorrow's Dark & Delicious silent auction.

I'm on an airplane right now.

And any woot even featuring KRPS is an automatic in for 3, no questions asked, no matter my finances (or which organs or bodily fluids I have to sell to finance it). The fact that this is all PS, and it's a mini-vertical to boot, just makes it all the better.

Kent, I don't think we'll be seeing you pouring tomorrow night, but if you want to show up and drink with us (and drink more afterwards!) you should feel more than welcome.

Do not PaSs on this PSeriously awesome wine.

I second this! And I was checking into the hotel and bought via my smartphone. Otherwise PS or I would have been First Sucker! Shouldn't have left home so late!

In for 3 as well!

We had the '07 this summer on RPM's magical mescaline tour, it was delicious. In for two. My only issue is that I won't want to open these for a decade.

Oh well, at least I'll have something to drink at President Beiber's inauguration.

Good lord. Where am I supposed to put this stuff? I bought a bottle of this on the Tour last summer for more than this offer. How am I supposed to resist? WD, you're killing us here!

NightGhost wrote:Kent, when would you recommend as the best year(s) to drink these?

edit: I should have listed to the vintner voicemail first:

"Drink it old, or drink it young."

Good young for about 8 years, then in dumb phase for 10-15 years. Wow - I just don't know if I can be that patient!

Hmmm, I think he posted a long time ago that PS is fine up until 10, then goes into it's mute phase sometime between 10 and 15 for 5 years or so .... have to see if I can find that post.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Hmmm, I think he posted a long time ago that PS is fine up until 10, then goes into it's mute phase sometime between 10 and 15 for 5 years or so .... have to see if I can find that post.

And here it is!!

KRWINE wrote:Hi, Kent here
It seems to me that Petite Sirah is one of the most interesting wines when it comes to the issue of aging and drinking. Young PS is big, rich, usually pretty tannic and above all full of luscious fruit. Funnily enough, unlike a Cab. Sauv., even though they are structurally huge, they are still very drinkable when they are young—mostly because of the charm of all the wonderful fruit. Once a PS is about 10-15 years old it usually starts to go through a “dumb” phase as it loses it’s fruit, but then when they get really old – 20-25 years they come around again like no other wine I have ever had….wonderful rich Bordeaux-like complexity…tons of that cedar-cigar box character that you always associate with really nice old clarets. So my recommend is drink them young or let them sit forever—most PS have the structure to handle the age.
What made me “an expert” on old PS: A few years ago there was a small wine shop in the San Francisco Bay Area that bought people’s cellars. He also bought our wine, but unfortunately, while the fellow who ran the shop was a nice guy, he didn’t pay his bills. One day I was in the shop (collecting a bill) and he had dozens of bottles from the late 1960s to about 1980 of California PS on a table…I said…why? And he told me that when he resold the wine he bought from collections he could never get anyone to take the PS. I made a deal with him that we would trade a bottle of our wine for a bottle of PS…he got something he could sell and I got paid. Over the course of the next year or so (before the IRS caught him) we traded about a hundred bottles and Celia and I had old old PS for dinner several nights each week. These were the great old fathers of PS…Concannon, Burgess, Freemark Abbey, Ridge, and so on. Other than an occasional corky bottle we never had a single one that was “over the hill”. It was a treat and a rare opportunity to learn about old PS.

I told you!!! Around 10 to 15 years!

I also want to point out that our own Richardhod has a review on CT with a 90 rating.

Not sure if that will help or hurt the sales...

I bought two, but wish that I had enough fuel for three. I'm trying not to sound like I'm working for KR, but this is one of the best deals I've seen on WW.

FWIW, KR also had the best Cab Franc of any of the Napa wineries I was able to taste. Having said that, I think Cali CFs still pale in comparison to what Virginia is doing with this glorious grape. How about a Virginia CF offering?

I was on SIWBM and then I bought some Wellington Duke 8 off of a fellow wooter earlier this week and then I went to Bevmo and picked up a couple of bottles; a Joel Gott SB & a Buena Vista Pinot. And then this comes up!!!
I have to pass despite my feelings otherwise, what a bummer.

Looks like my Travel Vinturi is arriving just in time. I don't suppose that will make up for 20 plus years of cellaring, but, in all honesty, I just don't have that kind of patience. I'll vote for the "Drink it young" part!

@#*(WE&(*!!! I have learned that KR wine is amazing stuff. The monthly budget'll be a wee bit tight, but how can I resist? I know I won't regret.

MarkDaSpark wrote:I told you!!! Around 10 to 15 years!

Yes - he says "Once a PS is about 10-15 years old it usually starts to go through a “dumb” phase as it loses it’s fruit, but then when they get really old – 20-25 years they come around again like no other wine I have ever had"

So it starts to go through the dumb phase at 10-15 years, and comes around again at 20-25 years. So if you want to try the aged version, you need to wait until 2027-2028.

Again, we may be vacationing on Mars before that happens!

mplarkin wrote:I also want to point out that our own Richardhod has a review on CT with a 90 rating.

Not sure if that will help or hurt the sales...

I bought two, but wish that I had enough fuel for three. I'm trying not to sound like I'm working for KR, but this is one of the best deals I've seen on WW.

FWIW, KR also had the best Cab Franc of any of the Napa wineries I was able to taste. Having said that, I think Cali CFs still pale in comparison to what Virginia is doing with this glorious grape. How about a Virginia CF offering?

Personally, I have a lot of respect for what Richard says.

Unless you agree and you mean that 90 isn't good enough for you.

NightGhost wrote:Personally, I have a lot of respect for what Richard says.

Unless you agree and you mean that 90 isn't good enough for you.

I think he was just having fun. I went in for 3 within a minute of seeing this deal. I prefer Kent's CF and CS, but that's likely because I'm not yet a PS aficionado like the others. Also my palate developed fast during and after the Tour!

This retails at 40 bones from winery. Best price i've seen was $30 on tour. This us approaching $20. You will never see a better price on this good a PS. And he knows how to attain phenolic ripeness without too much alcohol. Truly fine winemaking.

Interestingly, I read somewhere recently that speed of ripening changes the kinds of flavours you get with some grapes. So red fruits come from faster ripening than darker flavours, which apparently come from phenolics appearing later in the bio-chemical processes of ripening.

NightGhost wrote:Yes - he says "Once a PS is about 10-15 years old it usually starts to go through a “dumb” phase as it loses it’s fruit, but then when they get really old – 20-25 years they come around again like no other wine I have ever had"

So it starts to go through the dumb phase at 10-15 years, and comes around again at 20-25 years. So if you want to try the aged version, you need to wait until 2027-2028.

Again, we may be vacationing on Mars before that happens!

This wine will reach its third age at the same time as many wooters. A well-timed maturity. Those who are unlikely to make it to 2035 feel free to bequeath them to an appreciative palate!

How does this compare to the Black Zeppelin PS a while ago?