You’d think after about 25 years of wine-making, a guy would get kind of tired of the whole racket. Not Kent Rasmussen. He started Esoterica with a specific purpose in mind: to challenge himself and his own knowledge by exploring under-used and even completely unknown varieties of grapes and creating something truly unique in the process.
For nearly 20 vintages now, Kent and his grower have been tweaking their approach to the Petite Sirah, and their hard work and patience shows in this Esoterica Petite Sirah 3 Pack. These two bottles of 2007 Esoterica Petite Sirah, along with the slightly younger, yet equally as thrilling 2008 Esoterica Petite Sirah are simply the finest examples to date of Kent’s mission to produce some of the most interesting wines to come out of California. The 2007 received 94 points and an “Editor’s Choice” designation in the September 2010 issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine for its immensity and dense forefront of raspberry, plum, apricot, and hints of chocolate. With soft and abundant tannins, plus a long, smooth finish reminiscent of black cherries, both the 2007 and 2008 will make you glad to have him playing mad scientist with his wine-making abilities.
2007 Petite Sirah Rutherford/Napa Valley:
The color is dense, even for Petite Sirah. Dark plum moving into the range of eggplant. Looking down into the center of the glass is like looking at obsidian. Clean translucent edge at the meniscus. Legs are dark, big and viscous looking—like the velvet draping in a theater. The word “dense” comes to the forefront—raspberry, plum, apricot, and absolutely lucid reminders of chocolate. Tannins are abundant, but not mouth-stripping, and have that typical softness that is so characteristic of Petite Sirah.
2008 Esoterica Petite Sirah Rutherford/Napa Valley:
As is appropriate for Petite Sirah, the first and foremost is fruit – big, bursting with raspberries and plum. Next is chocolate, with a vengeance, and then the wood —lots of nice oak in this wine. On the second tier are a whole range of earth characters—ocean, stone, morning and even a bit of a poinsettia note
Since its modest beginnings, the Kent Rasmussen Winery has evolved into one of the most important producers in the Napa region. The winery outgrew its tractor shed barrel room on Cuttings Wharf Road in the Napa Carneros long ago. In 1995, Kent and Celia established a new winemaking facility in a turn of the century slaughterhouse, on the Silverado Trail in St. Helena. Refined over the years, it now houses business offices, an enology lab and lab tasting room, a wine library and upgraded production equipment. The modern crusher, press, tanks, catwalks, refrigeration systems, pumps, forklift and fruit sorter have greatly enhanced winemaking options. Grapes are either estate grown or under long term contract with reliable growers.
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