2015 Lytton Estate Petite Sirah

Dark inky color with blackberry, mineral, and pepper on the nose. Full bodied, layered fruit and spice with floral notes on a long sensuous finish. JO (3/17)

An early spring and warm summer advanced ripening with the petite sirah harvest starting August 21. Low yields and small clusters concentrated tannin and color. To manage extraction, we fermented the grapes as whole berries, cooler and maceration averaged five days. After malolactic the wine aged in american oak for twelve months. This full-bodied, beautifully balanced wine can be enjoyed over the next twenty years.

The oldest petite sirah vines on our Lytton Estate were planted in 1901 and the youngest in 2008. We made our first wine from the property in 1972 and until 2002 when we bottled portions of the petite sirah as a separate wine for a limited release, it had always been included in the Lytton Springs Zinfandel. In 2003 we made another limited release and in 2009 our first national release.

Rainfall: 33.2 inches (just below normal)
Bloom: Mid-May
Weather: Very wet December, followed by the driest January on record (0.05”). Cool, wet, late spring helped with rainfall totals, but reduced our crop across all varieties. Harvest started early (mid-August) and finished quickly.

Harvest Dates: 21 August – 12 September
Grapes: Average Brix 23.0˚
Fermentation: Natural primary and secondary; limited pump-overs to once daily; pressed at nine days.
Barrels: 100% air-dried american oak barrels (20% new, 40% one and two years old, 40% three, four and five years old).
Aging: Twelve months in barrel

Hand-harvested, sustainably grown, estate grapes; destemmed and partially crushed; fermented on the native yeasts, followed by full malolactic on the naturally occurring bacteria; oak from barrel aging; minimum effective sulfur for this wine (35 ppm at crush; 86 ppm over the course of aging); pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

Vinous Media (August 2017): 94 Points. “The 2015 Petite Sirah Lytton Estate is all class. There is plenty of depth to the inky blue and purplish Petite fruit, while the tannins are remarkably polished for a young Dry Creek Petite. Hints of lavender, tobacco, mint, smoke and crème de cassis develop in the glass, adding further shades of complexity. This clay-rich site seems to be especially well suited to Petite. Whole berry fermentation and gentle extractions yield and especially refined Petite. The 2015 is another drop-dead gorgeous wine from Ridge.” – Antonio Galloni

JebDunnuck.com (August 2017): 92+ Points. “The 2015 Petite Sirah Lytton Estate offers an inky color (it’s Petite Sirah) as well as backward, intense notes of liquid violets, blackberry, blueberries, graphite and ample minerality. It’s a big, inky, concentrated and firm Petite Sirah that needs forgotten for 5-6 years, and will age effortlessly over the following decade. There’s roughly 2,000 cases produced and it’s well worth buying.” – Jeb Dunnuck

Average Rating: 89.3

No. of Tasting Notes: 39

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SRP: suggested retail price per bottle (U.S. dollars).

See all food pairing recipes we have created specifically for this wine.