Wine Last Sold on: January 4, 2013
Peterson Winery
Featured Wine:
2009 Forchini Vineyard Carignane
| Varietal: | Carignane |
| Vineyard: | Forchini Vineyard |
| Region: | California: Dry Creek Valley (Sonoma) |
| Avg. Price: | $38.00 |
| Wine Spies: | $29.00 |
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2012 WINE INTRIGUE AWARDS WINNER:
Operatives’ Choice: Top Ultra-Limited Production Selection of 2012
Welcome to day nineteen of the 6th Annual Wine Spies Wine Intrigue Awards. Every year, our Operatives and our Agents choose their favorite wines of the past year. Today, we are very pleased to present our Operatives’ favorite ultra-limited production selection- of any that we showcased in 2012.
SUPERIOR WINE ALERT:
We only showcase wines that we love. While our emphasis is on quality first, every now and again we come across a real standout wine that rises above. When we do, we issue alerts like this one.
Mission Codename: 1987
- Operative
- Agent Red
- Objective
- Send Agent Red to Peterson Winery, who has given The Wine Spies exclusive access to its special 25th Anniversary Carignane.
- Mission Status
- Accomplished!
- Winemaker
- Jamie Peterson
Final Assessment
This 25th Anniversary wine is a fitting tribute to the masterworks that the wonderful Peterson Winery produces. Darkly juicy, sweetly spicy and ultra-delicious, this 2009 Peterson Winery Carignane is a truly fantastic wine. Delicious, right out of the bottle, this wine really springs to life after an hour or two of decanting. Flavors deepen, with rich, dark fruits that become more authentic the longer it breaths.
This wine is a delicious, expressive, spicy, fruit-driven, complex treat that we are truly crazy about. With only 74 cases of this limited-edition, 25th Anniversary wine produced, this is likely the only opportunity that you’ll have to pick some up.
Tasting Profile
Dark magenta with a darker heart. Color is perfectly even, from core to edge. A beautiful ring of ruby runs around the glass. After swirling, thin legs form high up on the glass, before moving swiftly down the glass.
Dark fruit and spice leap from the glass. Overripe blackberry, smoky blueberry, black currant and warm brown spice leap from the glass. Black cherry, plum, sweetwood, dark chocolate and dark dried flower petals round out the lush nose.
Intriguing and complex, with bold flavors overripe blackberry, black cherry, wild strawberry, dried violets, spiced cranberry and toasted oak. As the wine opens up, flavors of tobacco leaf, sweet spice, anise, plum and black pepper appear.
Dark and juicy, fruit flavors sustain for an extra long time. As dark fruits fade, red fruits come to the forefront. As these red fruits fade, sweet brown spice, oak and black pepper remain, tailing off very slowly.
What the Winery Says
Engaging aromas of spicy plum, strawberry jam and a hint of rose petal denote a classic Carignane, and the palate follows suit. The dark spicy mouthfeel reveals cherry and plum around a core of ripe strawberry, subtle black licorice, a hint of mineral and [sweet] vanillin oak. Well-integrate tannins and oak showcase the solid structure produced by the old vine fruit.
This wine offers a complexity rarely found in this varietal, but worth seeking out because it’s such a joy to drink. Try pairing it with slow-roasted pull pork over a bed of creamy polenta, or baked rigatoni with Italian sausage and fennel.
Jamie’s (Peterson) Vintaged View & Vineyard Notes: The Forchini’s, our next-door neighbors on the eastern bench of the Dry Creek Valley, own a gem of a vineyard, with 100-year-old Zinfandel vines and 2 acres of 60+year-old Carignane vines as the crown jewels. When offered, we jumped at the chance to get some of the Carignane grapes and we haven’t looked back (other than to extend the grape contract few more years.). Planted on well-drained benchland soil, this vineyard is completely non-irrigated, sustainably farmed, and provides fantastic grapes with which to work.
We initially purchased the Carignane in 2007 for blending—to add spice, brightness and complexity to our Zinfandels and Petite Sirah. We liked the stand-alone wine so much, and luckily we had a small amount remaining after the blending was done. We bottled the remaining Carignane as a single varietal with a vineyard designate. We’ve tripled production since that frst bottling—from one barrel (25 cases) to three barrels (74 cases). With such a small bottling and the limitations of label choices, we decided on a unique look and designed an old-fashioned stencil label. Each bottle is carefully hand painted, giving this old-vine wine the touch of tradition and respect it deserves.
Technical Analysis:
Varietal Breakdown: 100% Old Vine Carignane
Vineyard: Forchini Vineyard
Appellation: Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
Alcohol: 14.8%
pH: 3.72
TA: 0.65
Barrel Aging: 21 MOnths
Types of Oak: 33% 2-year-old French oak barrels & 67% 4-year-old French oak barrels
Bottling Date: June 29, 2011 (unfined & unfiltered)
Production: 74 cases
Release Date: May 2012
About the Winery
We are located in the Dry Creek Valley, in the northwest region of Sonoma County. Peterson Winery’s new tasting room is now open for wine tasting and sales daily 11am-4:30pm. We often pour our wines at local tasting and charity events as well. Check for upcoming events on the News & Events page.
Our wines are also available for tasting at the “LOCALS” tasting room in Geyserville. See tastelocalwines.com for directions and details. Click on the “Find Us” link for a map to the winery and to LOCALS in Geyserville.
If you have any questions about Peterson Winery or our wines, send us an e-mail at friends@petersonwinery.com and we’ll respond as soon as we can.
We can’t tell our whole story here, but we hope that by looking at a few photos and reading a bit more about us, you’ll find out who we are and why we love to make great wines.
About The Winemaker:
Jamie Peterson – It’s not by coincidence that I’m the winemaker at Peterson Winery. I’ve been helping my father at the winery for the past ten years, back to the days of labeling the bottles by hand. I worked two harvests here at the winery, in 2000 and 2001, and the 2001 harvests Down Under in Australia at Lowe Family Winery, and then in New Zealand, at Ngatarawa Winery. With this solid base of experience, much to my excitement I was given the opportunity of taking over winemaking duties in June 2002, and have been loving it ever since.
Overseeing the quality of the wine from when the grapes come in all the way through to the bottle is my main responsibility and priority. Since it’s just my father and I, this keeps me pretty busy, but when I’m not checking up on barrels or wrestling with the bottling equipment, you can often find me at one the numerous tasting events we attend, whether it is for charity or for the love of wine. In my free time, I’ve started a Peterson Winery softball team with my friends here in Healdsburg. I also enjoy cooking, foraging for local culinary mushrooms, reading, and am a Giants baseball fan. Continuing winemaking tradition of Zero Manipulation.
