TN: Carmel Appellation Petite Sirah 2005

[Gabriel Geller]

Hi folks,

Following Andrew's "lamb" thread, my business partner and myself decided to roast some lamb with honey and thyme as well as entrecote steaks last night and to pair that with one of our last remaining bottles of Carmel Appellation Petite Sirah 2005 while we watched on TV the French presidential election debate (this coming Sunday) between the 2 candidates, Hollande and Sarkozy, both being hard-to-chew cuts of meat...

Anyway enough with politics, let's move on to the wine, which is btw one of my all-time fav's!

Carmel Appellation Petite Sirah 2005: This wine seems to be at its peak, throwing now a very tiny bit of sediment and I would not cellar my last bottle for more than 6 months. Impenetrable dark purple, almost black, with on the nose bursting blueberries, spicy oak and chocolate, full-bodied with on the deeply extracted palate concentrated blueberries, ripe blackberries, spices, oak and bakers chocolate with bracing acidity in good balance with mouth-coating tannins on a seemingly almost never-ending finish. Gorgeous!

Best,

GG

[Gary J]

Hi folks,

Following Andrew's "lamb" thread, my business partner and myself decided to roast some lamb with honey and thyme as well as entrecote steaks last night and to pair that with one of our last remaining bottles of Carmel Appellation Petite Sirah 2005 while we watched on TV the French presidential election debate (this coming Sunday) between the 2 candidates, Hollande and Sarkozy, both being hard-to-chew cuts of meat...

Anyway enough with politics, let's move on to the wine, which is btw one of my all-time fav's!

Carmel Appellation Petite Sirah 2005: This wine seems to be at its peak, throwing now a very tiny bit of sediment and I would not cellar my last bottle for more than 6 months. Impenetrable dark purple, almost black, with on the nose bursting blueberries, spicy oak and chocolate, full-bodied with on the deeply extracted palate concentrated blueberries, ripe blackberries, spices, oak and bakers chocolate with bracing acidity in good balance with mouth-coating tannins on a seemingly almost never-ending finish. Gorgeous!

Best,

GG

Sounds delish Gabriel. But I wonder...if it is only starting to throw bits of sediment & the color is still a nice dark purple why the rush to finish up remaining bottles? Sounds like it still has time...

[Gabriel Geller]

Hi Gary, I based my remark upon the fact that one of the people complained that the wine went flat after an hour or so in his glass (indeed, I checked) and showed a lot more sediment then than in my glass or my partner's. So unless if the bottle was not properly stored where it was purchased about 6 months ago, as I just purchased 2 bottles today as a regular customer in Netanya I will be able to drink it again soon. I hope and I shall then see if whether the wine is about to go down the hill or will keep enjoying the view a little longer for my greatest enjoyment...

Shabbat Shalom!

GG

[Gary J]

Hi Gary, I based my remark upon the fact that one of the people complained that the wine went flat after an hour or so in his glass (indeed, I checked) and showed a lot more sediment then than in my glass or my partner's. So unless if the bottle was not properly stored where it was purchased about 6 months ago, as I just purchased 2 bottles today as a regular customer in Netanya I will be able to drink it again soon I hope and I shall then see if whether the wine is about to go down the hill or will keep enjoying the view a little longer for my greatest enjoyment...

Shabbat Shalom!

HG

Gotcha....makes sense.

Either way, I have 1 bottle of this wine...no idea when to drink it. Oh well...hopefully whenever I do bust it out it will still be alive & kickin'!

[David Raccah]

Sorry Gary, the correct answer is NOW. Really, why wait? If it tastes great now, all you are playing with is fire and a fear of its destiny. It sounds like a great wine and I remember it well, so pop it open and enjoy. That is unless you have an even larger backlog of older bottles of other wines that you have not yet gotten to -

By the way, I too am guilty of this, but I have lost so many bottles in the past, that I have gotten far better about this and have used the drink by dates on CellarTracker, Rogov, and my own notes, to plan out when the wines need to be drunk by. The motto, "No wine will be left to die" is one that we should all live by!

David

[Gary J]

The motto, "No wine will be left to die" is one that we should all live by!

David

Amen Brother!

[Gabriel Geller]

I second David, no Bal Tashchit (waste), certainly not with great wine! The bottles I've just purchased are not meant for long term cellaring but for enjoying them over the next coming months.