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Wine Details
Price:
$12.99 per bottle
Description:
This is a rich and full-bodied red wine that blends Cabernet Sauvignon (70%) with Petite Sirah (30%). The winemaker kept each component separate during fermentation. Both were handled gently to minimize bitterness and fermented warm to maximize color and flavor extraction. The Cabernet component was aged one year in new and used American and French oak. The Petite Sirah was cellared in stainless steel to maintain its bright, fresh fruit character. The Clay Station 2001 Cabernet/Petite Sirah is a deep, rich and elegant red wine with complex layers of plum, eucalyptus, blueberry and vanilla. The wine shows a bright black cherry and cassis fruit flavor with a remarkably silky mouthfeel and a long lingering finish.
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Varietal Definition
Petite Sirah:
Petite Sirah is the same as the French variety known as Durif, a cross of Peloursin, with the true Syrah. A French nurseryman, Dr. François Durif, propagated the grape trying for resistance to powdery mildew and named it after himself, in the 1870s. Petite Sirah has long been an important blending grape, prized primarily for its deep color and fairly intense tannin. It is the variety most often chosen to blend into Zinfandel for added color, complexity, body, and to tone down the tendency of Zins toward "jammy" fruit.
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Cabernet Sauvignon:
Cabernet Sauvignon is the most widely planted and significant among the five dominant varieties in France’s Bordeaux region, as well as the most successful red wine produced in California. Though it was thought to be an ancient variety, recent genetic studies at U.C. Davis have determined that Cabernet Sauvignon is actually the hybrid offspring of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Cabernet Sauvignon berries are small with black, thick and very tough skin. This toughness makes the grapes fairly resistant to disease and spoilage and able to withstand some autumn rains with little or no damage. It is a mid to late season ripener. These growth characteristics, along with its flavor appeal have made Cabernet Sauvignon one of the most popular red wine varieties worldwide.
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