Petite Sirah the mystery uncovered

Wines & Vines, Sept, 2000 by Dennis Fife

The story of Petite Sirah (also spelled Petite Syrah both in France and in California) in America is only now finally being cleared up with the work of such scholars as Dr. Carole Meredith of U.C., Davis, Dr. Harold Olmo of U.C., Davis, several renowned ampelographers, and historian Charles Sullivan. This paper will summarize discussions and summaries of their writings as well as other sources in an attempt to reveal where Petite Sirah came from, its changes over time, and finally what it is today. To date there have been many incomplete stories and half truths about Petite Sirah throughout the general wine literature. Now, for the first time, we understand the facts well enough to set the story straight.

A note on my background: I have been involved with growing, producing, and marketing Petite Sirah since 1972. First with Cresta Blanca, then Inglenook

Napa Valley, and Stags' Leap Winery, and now with Fife Vineyards. I have worked with over 20 different vineyards planted with this variety in Napa and Mendocino counties. I have followed the research on Petite Sirah, and Fife Vineyards participated in the most recent DNA study by Dr. Meredith. To me there is no question that Petite Sirah is a noble variety. As a winegrower, I see many similarities to Syrah in flavor and texture and also in how Petite Sirah responds in growing and winemaking. I believe Petite Sirah-- as rare as it is--has produced several of California's most successful wines over the past 30 years. Petite Sirah has numerous fans who are very passionate about it, as they are about Syrah and Rhone blends.

1. What we know about the identity of Petite Sirah today. [1]

Not much attention was paid to the true identity of Petite Sirah until the l960s and l970s with the rapid growth of the first varietally-labeled wines. This period was immediately followed by the new focus on Rhone varieties in California--particularly Syrah. So new interest developed as to just what Petite Sirah was and how it related to Syrah. In the l970s, Paul Truel, a distinguished French ampelographer, examined some vines labeled Petite Sirah in the U.C., Davis variety collection and identified them as the French variety Durif. Although there was no immediate follow-up study to this single data point, it nonetheless became widely accepted that Petite Sirah in California was the French variety Durif, and this was reported in several wine publications. But some experts, including Dr. Harold Olmo of U.C., Davis, continued to believe that Petite Sirah was no fewer than three distinct varieties, one of which was Syrah.

Dr. Olmo's grape breeding research took him all over the state and Petite Sirah was one of the varieties that he was interested in.

Of course, this new information begged the question: what is Durif? In the 1970s Durif was not a major variety and the information about it in the literature of the time was incomplete and often misleading. At the time one often heard, particularly from French vintners, that Durif was not related to Syrah, but was instead a "selection" of Peloursin, a French grape variety with limited value in the Rhone and considered to make "ordinary" wine. This half-truth was later proven to be incorrect, but until recently most wine publications quoted this opinion. With the rise of Syrah in America, particularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s, several important previously named Petite Sirah vineyards in California were renamed as Syrah. Thus, while Olmo was correct when he stated that some Petite Sirah was Syrah, this generally ceased to be true. Many other vineyards were found to have many varieties (sometimes numbering in the teens) including Syrah and Durif. A few of these mixed vineyards are being carefully preser ved, but unfortunately, most of these "mixed" old blocks were replanted and also lost to the Petite Sirah world. As we will see, this renaming or replanting of vineyards over a period of the last 20 years or so has resulted in the fact that Petite Sirah is now predominately Durif.

In the early 1990s Dr. Meredith began to have extraordinary success with a new DNA technique which identified grape varieties with a high degree of accuracy. By 1996 she had identified four of the seven Petite Sirahs in the Davis collection as Durif, one as "true" Syrah, one as Peloursin, and one as Pinot noir. In her mote recent study, she determined that Petite Sirah in the North Coast today is predominately Durif and most of the rest is mixed old blocks--often with Durif. (Only one vineyard was found to be predominantly Peloursin). But, importantly, Dr. Meredith also confirmed that DNA identified Syrah as one of the parents of Petite Syrah. Durif is Peloursin fertilized by Syrah and thus shares the characteristics of both varieties.

Upon further examination aided by her colleagues in France, Dr. Meredith found that Durif was a cross that was selected for planting by a grape breeder named Durif, at the University of Montpellier, in the 1880s. (We now know that many noble varieties such as Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay are all crosses. Note that a cross should be distinguished from a hybrid, the result of fertilization between two different species of grapes). Durif was found to produce small berries with saturated color, dense fruit, and with many of the characteristics of Syrah. Although it was never a leading variety in the Rhone, Durif was encouraged by the University at Montpellier due to its relative freedom from powdery mildew--one of Syrah's problems. Today Durif is a minor variety in France and approved for A.O.C. only in Palette, a small appellation in Provence. But the loss of interest in Durif in the Rhone Valley stemmed entirely from its tendency to develop grey rot in their typical growing season which often exper iences high humidity.