2011 Alexander Valley Petite Sirah, Stryker Vineyards 750ml 4-Pack
The 2011 Alexander Valley Petite Sirah is opaque indigo in the glass and has aromas of blueberries along with some darker fruit over subtle oak notes. The flavors are deeply fruity with soft and well resolved tannins. The finish is long with good acidity and no tannic bitterness.
Our Petite Sirah was grown in Alexander Valley on benchland just north of California State Highway 128 at Stryker Sonoma Winery. We purchased the entire production from a small, 0.75 acre Petite Sirah Block. The typical production is 2.5 tons. The fruit is intense with blueberry and black fruit characters. The tannins from these grapes are powerful but yet soft. The resulting wines are enjoyable young but age well.
Winery Retail Price: $80.00
Average Shipping: $25.00
Woot Shipping: (-$8.00)
Total MSRP: $97.00
Fermentation: The wine was fermented in macrobins and the bins were hand punched down three times a day. Fermentation was with BM-45 yeast and took 10 days. The temperature of the fermenting wine never exceeded 78 °F. After fermentation, we conducted a post fermentation maceration for two weeks.
Pressing: We pressed with a small bladder press directly into 50-50 once-used and twice-used François Frères French oak barrels. The wines slowly underwent malolactic fermentation over the next year in barrel.
Barrel Aging and Racking: We racked only twice: once in February to get the wine off the coarse lees and then once one month before bottling to remove the remaining sediment.
Bottling: The wine was hand bottled in August 2011 and was unfined and unfiltered. Free SO2 was adjusted to 22 ppm. Expect the wine to throw sediment as it ages.
Winery Retail Price: $80.00
Average Shipping: $25.00
Woot Shipping: (-$8.00)
Total MSRP: $97.00
Fermentation: The wine was fermented in macrobins and the bins were hand punched down three times a day. Fermentation was with BM-45 yeast and took 10 days. The temperature of the fermenting wine never exceeded 78 °F. After fermentation, we conducted a post fermentation maceration for two weeks.
Pressing: We pressed with a small bladder press directly into 50-50 once-used and twice-used François Frères French oak barrels. The wines slowly underwent malolactic fermentation over the next year in barrel.
Barrel Aging and Racking: We racked only twice: once in February to get the wine off the coarse lees and then once one month before bottling to remove the remaining sediment.
Bottling: The wine was hand bottled in August 2011 and was unfined and unfiltered. Free SO2 was adjusted to 22 ppm. Expect the wine to throw sediment as it ages.
Owner and wine aficionado Rick Spielman started Argent Wines in 2008, with a vision of making idiosyncratic wines from the Dry Creek Valley area of Sonoma County. Raised in Northern California and a UC Davis graduate he always had an intense interest in wine making and wine appreciation.
By 2008 Rick realized that his focus had to be on unique small vineyards with great locations. In 2009, he found the beautiful Stryker Petite Sirah Vineyard on benchland in Alexander Valley about 5 miles away. He was very lucky to get exclusive access to this fruit. Then in 2010 he made wine from the second vintage produced from Zinfandel from the Vlahos Ranch in Dry Creek Valley. After tasting the wine, he took over vineyard management in January 2011 and now totally controls the vineyard. Argent Wines is always looking for new opportunities for quality grapes. In 2012 he found a small vineyard owned by Fred Cosentino in the Russian River Valley producing some perfect Syrah.
Our goal in the future is to slowly increase our production and to make a few barrels of Grenache Noir, Pinot Noir, and/or Syrah as the quality grapes become available. We are always looking for high-quality, small vineyards and may plant a couple of additional acres of vines at the Vlahos Ranch.
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