Parducci Mendocino County Petite Sirah 5-Pack
$59.99 $125.00 52% off List Price
2007 Parducci Petite Sirah, Mendocino County
CT link above
The price is nice for an aged PS, and I’ve liked the other parducci PS’s I’ve had…
meh. pass.
Or a nice a review from Wine Spectator…oh who to believe? 
Parducci Petite Sirah Mendocino County 2007
Score: 85
Issue Mar 31, 2011
Tasting Note:
A bold, peppery, spicy wine, with terrific mineral details, showing dark fruit, thick tannins and a rustic charm. Drink now through 2014. 15,340 cases made. –MW
A bottle of this arrived at our friendly local FedEx about a week ago. SWMBO and I cracked it open once we got home and proceeded to take notes as we sipped, prepared dinner, and nibbled on the food.
Pardon the spartan furnishings behind the photos; we’re remodeling our kitchen at the moment.
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Parducci cork is on the left:
http://i.imgur.com/PsWQqial.jpg
Initial Pour
Oak, leather, a little spice, hint of berry. Black cherry in color, definite heat / smell of alcohol.
First Sip
Initial chalkiness that doesn’t linger, very dry, spice yet an overall mild flavor, very little fruit flavor, some heat in the finish. Not complex at all nor full-bodied in taste; the smell would indicate far more flavor than we experienced.
Day Two / +24 hours
Licorice, more mellow and less heat, seems to have come together a bit better than on the initial pour.
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With Food
Dinner / Pasta - We were already making fusilli with meatless meatballs so, while not necessarily ideal, that was the pairing. The wine definitely didn’t complement the pasta very well - it almost enhanced the heat / taste of alcohol. However, if you just ate the meatballs in sauce and sipped they actually went together nicely; the meatballs overcame the lack of flavor in the wine and sort of smoothed out the overall palette.
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Cheese - We had some Chai BellaVitano and crackers on hand that brought out some interesting flavors in the wine - I noticed a citrus/orange component and SWMBO commented that the cinnamon in the Chai complemented the wine very well.
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Chocolate - I had some Swiss chocolates from a recent business trip; we tried both dark and milk with the wine. The dark paired nicely with a good balance of sweetness but the milk was even better, with a very good balance against the wine’s flavors.
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Shrimp & Broccoli - We made grilled honey chipotle shrimp with broccoli on Day Two and the wine was definitely better suited to this pairing. It wasn’t spectacular with the broccoli but the slightly mellowed heat and earthy flavors went great with the char and seasoning on the grilled shrimp.
http://i.imgur.com/MFMOTVzl.jpg
Final Thoughts
We specifically wrote down that we wouldn’t pay >$10 for this so, by that metric, I’d personally put this on the “pass” list. It just wasn’t very complex and was overall a bit disappointing. Definitely a food wine, too.
That said, I think it was better on Day Two and did pair well with the shrimp - so it may be worth a try if you’re a big fan of the style or expect to cook up some nice pairings.
Nice tasting notes and now I’m hungry for grilled shrimp! This would probably be a good wine to pair with barbecue.
You made me keep thinking about the smoky Grenache
Nice notes indeed, very helpful!
Info post:
All tasting notes for this wine have been cross posted into CT under user name wine.woot_taster. User names have been removed to protect the guilty. PM me if you want your tasting note removed or user name added back.
Thanks and back to the wineing.