Petite Sirah 2005 – Jewel, Woodbridge, California

This Petite Sirah follows tradition with its deep, concentrated purple colour and enticing aromas of blueberries and vanilla oak that combine with generous flavours of intense dark berry fruit, plum and blueberry with soft overtones of classic earthiness. The finish is remarkably well-balanced with rich, assertive tannins and toasted oak.

This is a grape distantly related to Syrah, but quite different in style.

The Lodi wine country is nestled between the San Francisco Bay area and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Here you will enjoy a classic Mediterranean climate, featuring warm days and cool, pleasant evenings. Mother Nature provides the perfect environment for the Jewel winery to make great wines.

As you start to drive through Lodi, you see the most amazing sight of Zinfandel old bush vines; these are about 6 ½ feet in height and about 4ft wide. On the other side of the road are the most beautifully trellised vines of Merlot, Cabernet, Chardonnay and Petite sirah

and, likewise, go as far as the eye can see. Now, before our visit, we had pre-conceived ideas that the Jewel Winery would be a huge stainless steel factory with lots of men wandering about in white coats. However, we were lost for words as we approached the winery, for it was set amongst the vineyard with only small outbuildings and one office next to a railway line, not a bat in sight!

Jewel Winery has been consistently the fastest growing Winery in the USA, gaining over 400 major awards & accolades, since the creation of the wines 4 years ago. The winery is owned by a consortium of grape growers, all of whom are Californians born & bred, with generations of experience in producing the best wines in California, and who are based in all of the most important wine regions of the State from the cool Monterey coast, to the best site in Central Valley, Lodi.

Bottle Size: 75cl

ABV: 13.5%

Price per bottle: £8.59