Kim Macumber Interiors

La Storia Petite Sirah 2006

“Deep, dark, powerful, extracted and full bodied with classic aroma of blueberries, blackberries, licorice and spice. The mouth feel is dense, rich and fairly tannic with balanced acidity for the weight of the wine. The finish is long, tannic but juicy, with surprising sweetness at the end”. These are the winemaker’s notes, not mine.

In general I never read the winemakers notes or anyone else’s for that matter when I review a wine. I try and taste what I can taste and write it down as simply as I can. I know what a lot of things taste like and still have a pretty good sniffer regardless of what it looks like; certainly does not make me an master sommelier by any measure but I can relate smell and taste to things that smell and taste similar. I  have tasted cassis, coffee, Licorice and even leather, yep know exactly what it tastes like...because as a kid I remember chewing on the rawhide lacing of my baseball glove between innings, when I was not at bat…between the choruses of “we want a pitcher.” Tastes just seem to linger, I wish more important things would linger…algebra would have been nice.

Kim and I tried the La Storia Petite Sirah this evening and honestly I could not taste anything identifiable. A bit on the dry side and had a back of the mouth taste as opposed to a fruit forward one. I was stumped, nothing to describe, so in desperation I looked it up and above is how the wine maker described it. Hate to disagree with you Mr. Winemaker, I am certain you have a sophisticated, educated palate and a passion for your wine but I did not taste any of it; Blueberries…no, Blackberries…nope, Licorice…sorry, and spice; well I may give you spice as there was some unidentifiable spiciness hidden in the pepper range lost somewhere between black and red.

Anyway, it wasn’t a bad wine, we didn’t hate it, for that matter it went pretty well with our chicken pot pie, I just couldn’t legitimately describe it. So for about $20 bucks you can buy a non describable Petite Sirah that goes well with chicken pot pie or you can buy twenty Powerball tickets and fantasize about what you will do with your soon to come millions. I’ll buy the Powerball tickets next time.

Enjoy the wine.

DM