We recently tasted from the barrel of our 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah which comes from Mendocino County. At this point, it has been in the barrel about 15 months and has close to ½ year to go. It is progressing nicely and will be our first product available for sale in very limited production.

As noted in our other recent tasting, we want our wines to pair well with food, but also stand alone if needed. Based on what we tasted this weekend, we are really excited to say that the initial release from Purple Teeth Cellars will impressively pair with the right foods for a long time. The following thoughts are a summary of our notes from tasting over two evenings with and without foods. This is a dark purple wine and should stain teeth effectively.

There are aromas of blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, black pepper, oak, vanilla, and some earthiness. The wine smells youthful and powerful at this time.

It is full-bodied and, because it is still very young, it is tart with hard tannins that still need time to mellow in the barrel and eventually the bottle. Jill says it is bone dry while I caught a hint of sweetness that I didn't expect but found pleasing given my sweet, and often stained purple, tooth. We both found this wine to be powerful in flavors with a very long finish.

The flavors we find drinking it alone include black pepper, blackberry, blueberry, vanilla, black currants, and perhaps some thyme.

With our Ultimate Lasagna recipe (which we intend to provide on this site sometime soon), we had our differences. I love hot and spicy food a little more and I found it to bring out the spiciness and black pepper while Jill felt that it killed the earthy and fruity characteristics of the wine. Our lasagna is hot and spicy, and can reduce some flavors. That being said, the heat on the palate can be controlled by the amount of red pepper flakes added.

The following day, Jill made some braised short ribs that paired extremely well with this Petite Sirah. The short ribs had soy sauce, stock, orange rind zest, Chinese five-spice powder, brown sugar, unsweetened cocoa and some other herbs/spices. The wine also had a day to open up a little so that should be factored into this tasting to a certain extent. It had a pronounced smokiness, the fruit came forward much more, and it was jammy with a long finish. It just seemed like a pairing made for this wine. We also had some sweet potato french fries which reduced the jammy nature of the wine but enhanced the black fruits and flavors of cloves. The ketchup did not clash with the wine, and after all how can you have fries without having some ketchup?

Like a big cab, this wine pulls some punches. We are very excited and very proud to produce and to offer this Petite Sirah as our inaugural vintage of Purple Teeth Cellars.

We recently tasted from the barrels of both Syrahs from the 2007 vintage. The Alder Springs Syrah has been in the barrel about 4 months while the White Hawk Syrah has been in the barrel about 3 ½ months. Both have a solid year to go before being bottled so they are young, tannic, and tight.

We want our wine to pair with food, yet remain drinkable alone if called upon. We tasted both alone at first and then with several dishes over a few days. We are impressed with where they are today and we determined that they got better (more aromatic, more flavorful) over the days as they opened up. In other words, decanting on day 1 would have been ideal, although the wines might not have lasted for four days that way.

It's tough work doing the tasting and identifying flavors, but we feel really strongly about experiencing firsthand the evolution of any Purple Teeth Cellars wine. The Food & Wine pairing class that we took in 2007 was a huge help in assisting us in breaking down how you approach all of this. We each tasted on our own and wrote down individual notes before comparing what we thought of each wine. There were slight variations between our notes, but in general they were extremely similar.

White Hawk (Santa Barbara County)

This one has slightly deeper colors although they are both in that deep purple range which bodes well for staining of teeth. We got hints of blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, black pepper, nutmeg or vanilla, and broccoli on the nose. It is full bodied with high tannins that are still hard which is to be expected at this stage in the barrel.

On its own, there are flavors of black pepper, blackberries, cranberries, tomato, and nutmeg. Over a few days, this wine really opened up and was the more drinkable without food. We are really excited about this one.

We tasted with our Ultimate Lasagna, which is a tomato based, spicy lasagna that has ground turkey and lamb in it [the meat changes often when we make it]. The wine showed more fruit on the palate and the spices/peppers in the wine were not overpowered by the red pepper flakes in the lasagna. In fact, it tasted even better with the food.

We also tasted with baked chicken rubbed with Dukkah (mix of seeds & spices that is from Middle East) that we obtained in Hawaii so it has macadamia nuts added to the blend. The finish was shorter, the tannins were reduced, and the wine barely showed through. The side of green beans with basil & garlic were a nice addition.

Finally, we tasted with grilled teriyaki chicken and a side of broccoli with basil & garlic. Wow! The wine opened up after a few days and just really paired up with this dish. We cannot wait for it to age.

Alder Springs (Mendocino County)

This one is earthier on the nose with hints of blackberry, wood, black olives, smoke, & perhaps some cinnamon or cloves. On its own, there are flavors of white pepper, allspice, black fruits, pepper, & oak. This wine is more tannic and tight right now.

With the lasagna, it tastes similar to how it tastes without the food. The little pepper that can be detected goes away, there is a little more fruit to taste, and it is still earthy but fairly tannic.

With the baked chicken, we found the wine is on the astringent side and is tart, but the fruit comes through better and the earthiness dissipates. The side of green beans with basil & garlic matched well with the aromas of the wine.

This wine seems more age-worthy right now, but the year is early and the wines have much time left in the barrel. We will see how things look in a few months.

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Please stay tuned for our tasting notes for the 2006 Petite Sirah from the Purple Teeth Cellars! Check back in another week.