This is my third or fourth bottle of this particular wine. I figured it would be nice with grilled Italian sausage and ratatouille. As expected, the 2005 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah, Mendocino County has a saturated color and tons of sediment. The nose and palate are quite similar; both showing copious amounts of rustic, briery blackberry fruit and dusty tannins. I suppose the tannins and acidity will preserve this wine for a good decade or so, but I prefer to drink it now while it still has all of that deep black fruit.
I usually drink this wine from the Riedel Shiraz glass; the glass Riedel recommends for new world renditions of Rhone grapes. But tonight I grabbed a Riedel Pinot Noir glass instead. This is the glass they recommend for old world Rhone wines. For some reason, the Pinot glass seems to bring out the Bourbon character of the American oak the wine was aged in. I don't get any of that from the Shiraz glass. That being said, I think the Bourbon aromas (something I generally despise) adds a little something extra to this oh-so-rustic wine.
Sadly, there is no more of this to be had as winemaker Casey Hartlip has ceased wine production and now sells off all of his grapes to other wineries. Perhaps the delicious fruit from this wine will someday end up in a Petite Sirah from the likes of JC Cellars, Sean Thackery or Girard.
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