2012 Turley Petite Sirah Turley Estate

Bright, deep ruby-red. Liqueur-like blackberry and a medicinal quality on the nose; superripe but not roasted. Then powerful and surprisingly vibrant on the palate, with strong, almost peppery acidity energizing the dark berry and fresh herb flavors. Give this a long decanting or wait five years to pull the cork. Should make the perfect accompaniment to a rare, pepper-encrusted steak.

The 2012 Petite Syrah Turley Estate reveals a black color along with lots of incense, charcoal, blueberries, blackberries and graphite. It requires 4-5 years of cellaring and should last for three decades. Turley Wine Cellars has long been one of the more enviable wine operations in California. Larry Turley should, and does, receive enormous credit for nearly single-handedly preserving many of the heritage old vine Zinfandel sites that exist in northern California. Most of them were threatened with being torn up with what was believed to be more popular varietals such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. This estate produces nearly thirty single vineyard Zinfandels and Petite Syrahs, all from organically farmed vineyards. Natural yeast fermentations have always been the rule, and the percentage of new oak used has dropped from a high of 30% to about half that. Their Zinfandels are never shy, but tasting through the 2012s, it appears they are not as extracted as they once were, but the alcohols remain in the 15% to 16% range because Zinfandel is rarely ripe at lower sugars. It appears that Larry Turley was destined to resuscitate these old vine vineyards as he worked for a quarter of a century as an emergency room doctor. He now works full time shaping wines from nearly three dozen old vine parcels. As he says, he’s never met an old vine vineyard he didn’t like. Turley’s long-time assistant winemaker, Ehren Jordan, has left to pursue his own project (Failla Wines), but Turley has the highly competent Tegan Passalacqua as his wingman. Virtually every one of these 2012 Zinfandels will be drinkable upon release in 2014, and should last for 6-8 years. Larry Turley was one of the first to exploit some of the old vine vineyards planted in sandy soils from the backwater areas of Lodi and Contra Costa. The two Contra Costa sites include the Duarte and Salvador, both ancient vineyards with the Salvador directly planted on its own roots in 1896. The Duarte was named after a prominent grower in Contra Costa. The Petite Syrahs are different animals altogether and most of them should keep for 30-40 years – at a minimum! Tel. (707) 963-0940

Another, gorgeous wine, the 2012 Petite Syrah Turley Estate shows a lot of potential, even if it is quite primary and undeveloped at this stage. Today, the Estate is all about intensity, texture and structure. It is one of the most promising wines in the range, but is also likely to require at least a few years to fully come together. The exuberant style is pure 2012.