{"id":806,"date":"2020-02-07T21:37:45","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T21:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/?p=806"},"modified":"2021-12-21T23:24:02","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T23:24:02","slug":"five-fun-facts-about-petite-sirah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/five-fun-facts-about-petite-sirah\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Fun Facts About Petite Sirah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Big, bold and powerful, Petite Sirah is a wine that should be experienced. However, this full-bodied beauty is somewhat misunderstood and receives little recognition in the marketplace. While many of us in the wine industry love Petite Sirah, especially Frank Family who dedicates a single bottling to this variety, it still represents just a tiny blip of plantings and production in the world. In honor of the release of our 2016 S&J Vineyard Petite Sirah, we are sharing some fast and fun facts about this under appreciated grape that has stolen our hearts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. \u201cDurif\u201d is Petite Sirah\u2019s original name.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the 1880s, French botanist Fran\u00e7ois Durif crossed the Syrah and Peloursin grapes and created a new variety that he hoped would be resistant to mildew. He called this grape, Durif after himself. The Durif grape was imported to America in the mid-1880s where it received its new name \u201cPetite Sirah.\u201d Despite its origins being in France, Petite Sirah never really took off there and is essentially nonexistent in the country today. But it thrives in California weather, where it has a strong following among fanatics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. There is nothing \u2018petite\u2019 about Petite Sirah.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to its name, Petite Sirah is not petite at all. This wine is substantial, inky black in color, and high in tannins. It\u2019s also delicious, eminently drinkable, and is quintessentially Californian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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3. Petite Sirah is rarely seen as a 100% varietal wine. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not easy to fine a 100% Petite Sirah, especially in Napa Valley where the more popular Cabernet Sauvignon is the main focus. It is usually found in red blends, used by winemakers to muscle up the wine and to add structure when needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4. Petite Sirah is a perfect wine for decanting. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The high tannin in Petite Sirah makes it the perfect red wine to pour in a decanter and watch it evolve for 1-2 hours (if you can wait!). Follow our Guide to Decanting<\/a> if you need tips and tricks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Petitie Sirah is high in antioxidants. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Tannic red wines that are dark in color have been shown to be naturally higher in antioxidants. Petite Sirah is one of the deepest, most opaque red wines with very high levels of anthocyanin (an antioxidant). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Big, bold and powerful, Petite Sirah is a wine that should be experienced. However, this full-bodied beauty is somewhat misunderstood and receives little recognition in the marketplace. While many of us in the wine industry love Petite Sirah, especially Frank Family who dedicates a single bottling to this variety, it still represents just a tiny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[188,7,187,18,108,185,14,186],"class_list":["post-806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wine","tag-california-wine","tag-featured","tag-fun-facts","tag-napa-valley","tag-napa-valley-wine","tag-petite-sirah","tag-wine","tag-wine-101"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/5DR_4603-1606x1152-2.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/parYsd-d0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}