Ursa Vineyards Petite Sirah - Three Pack

Tough gig, being a wine scout, lemme tell you. Everybody thinks it’d be a nonstop adventure. They think every day is like stumbling across Mickey Mantle playing on an alkali field, or Lana Turner working the soda fountain at a drugstore. Truth is, it’s a grind. You strike out way more often than you get on base. And you almost never hit a home run. You hear about some sensational Merlot up in the mountains, you spend days or weeks tracking it down, and the stuff tastes like Windex. You spit it out, shrug it off, and hit the road again. Nature of the game.

So my hopes weren’t high when I read a line in some small-town paper about this winery up in the Sierra Foothills. This Ursa outfit had won best Petite Sirah at the California State Fair two years in a row. But I’d tasted enough award-winning swill to know that all the medals in the world can’t make a lousy wine taste good. If they were so great, why were they just making 200, 300, 400 cases of each vintage? Why didn’t they grow any other varietals? Still, I had a job to do. I wheeled on over to El Dorado County, expecting to be gone again before my last sip stopped swirling on my tongue.

Let’s just say this old bird-dog learned a few new tricks that day. Each bottle seemed better than the last. The Ursa Vineyards 2005 Petite Sirah Sierra Foothills had that elegant, perfumy mountain-fruit aroma, with a robustly oaky palate. Their 2005 Petite Sirah Vineyard Blend combined equal parts Sierra Foothills, Central Coast, and Paso Robles fruit for a mixture spice and black fruit like nothing I’d ever scouted before. And the big, juicy Ursa Vineyards 2005 Petite Sirah Paso Robles reminded me why I got into this game in the first place. A blueberry nose spiced with subtle cinnamon and black pepper lead into a lingering dark berry palate with well-balanced tannins. With the first drink, I reached inside my jacket for a contract. I had to sign these kids up.

Now Ursa’s moving up in the world, taking their star turn on Wine.Woot. I’m still out here pounding sand, rustling the bushes, searching for the next big wine thing. But when I get down, when I feel like I’m wasting my time or wasting my life, I just remember the way it felt to sip that Petite Sirah. No matter what happens from now on, I’ll always be the guy who discovered Ursa Vineyards.

2005 Petite Sirah Sierra Foothills

• Pick date: 9/28/05, 10/21/05
• pH: 3.52
• Average brix at time of harvest: 25.1
• Oak: European, 35% new, 20 months
• ML: 100%
• Alchol: 14.7%
• Cases Produced: 200

Petite Sirah Vineyard Blend

• Blend: 33% Central Coast 33% Sierra Foothills 33% Paso Robles
• pH: 3.58
• Average brix at time of harvest: 24.8
• Oak: Blend of Euro and American, 15% new, 20 months
• ML: 100%
• Alcohol: 13.5
• Cases produced: 425

2005 Petite Sirah Paso Robles

• Pick date: 10/3/05
• pH: 3.85
• Brix at time of harvest: 24.3
• Oak: French oak, 25% new, 20 months
• ML: 100%
• Alcohol: 14.5%
• Cases Produced: 250