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Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $76.94
Undergoing a four-week maceration followed by approximately nine months in French oak (50% new), Es is intoxicating:...
12 FREE
DC
96
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $22.90 $25.68
6 bottles: $18.80
The 2021 Petite Sirah Tower Road is a beauty, with an up-front, lush, yet concentrated, nicely balanced style....
JD
91
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $73.94
A new wine in this range, the 2017 Petite Sirah is a total knockout. Rich, ample and explosive, with terrific...
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VM
94
JD
93
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $16.90 $18.00
Raspberry coulis and fresh soil with grass popping through on the nose turns to an almost cake-like raspberry and...
WE
91
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.90 $20.80
12 bottles: $19.50
The 2021 Petite Sirah is laced with inky blue/purplish fruit, hard candy, mint, sage and white flowers. Whole...
VM
92
Sale
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $34.33 $36.80
A wine of weight and substance, the 2019 Petite Syrah Lytton Estate is fabulous. Best of all, readers won't have to...
VM
95
JD
93
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $35.64 $39.60
12 bottles: $34.20
Lovely aromas of toasted herbs, baked plums, nutmeg and chicory root. Full-bodied with tight tannins. Juicy and...
JS
93
WS
90
Red
750ml
Bottle: $50.10
12 bottles: $49.10
This Rutherford-based winery has sourced the fruit for its 2019 Petite Sirah from Guarino Vineyards in Calistoga....
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WA
91
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $89.94
The 2021 Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard comes from vines planted in 1953. Opaque ruby-black in color, this has some...
12 FREE
WA
96
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $52.72
A wine of weight and substance, the 2019 Petite Syrah Lytton Estate is fabulous. Best of all, readers won't have to...
VM
95
JD
93
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $65.28
The Schola Sarmenti 2013 Primitivo Diciotto is the proverbial "big boy" wine from Puglia. If you don't get that from...
WA
91
WS
91
Sale
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
1.5Ltr - 1 Bottle
Bottle: $6584.94 $7005.26
The 2012 Petite Sirah The Writing on the Wall should be the greatest Petite Sirah to ever come out of California (or...
WA
100
VM
98

Petite Sirah Primitivo

Petite Sirah was first brought from France to America in the 1880s. It later went on to become one of the only grapes to make it through the devastating Phylloxera virus in the 1890s, both World Wars, and the Great Depression. During Prohibition, it was a main ingredient used to make sacramental wines. In fact, through the 1960s it was a major blending grape in a number of the finest wines produced in California.

By itself, a bottle of Petite Sirah usually has no problem making a quick impression on consumers. With a large amount of natural color and tannins, wines made with the grape commonly feature intensive sweet fruit characteristics like fresh raspberry or blackberry jam, black pepper spice, and plenty of backbone or structure.

There are a number of different styles available. Some concentrate on highlighting fresh, fruity flavors; others are bigger, more voluptuous; and it keeps going up the ladder until you reach the powerful, more machismo-style category.

As with many European grape varietals, there is some debate regarding the precise origins of the Primitivo grape. Most people now agree that it probably came from Croatia, where it is still used widely in the production of red wine, and it known as Tribidrag. However, today it is a grape most commonly associated with the powerful red wines of Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot, where the intense sunshine and brisk Mediterranean breezes produce grapes of remarkable character and balance. Primitivo is a dark grape, known for producing intense, inky, highly tannic wines, most notably the naturally sweet Dolce Naturale and the heavy and complex Primitivo di Manduria wines. Primitivo tends to be naturally very high in both tannin and alcohol, making it ideal for both barrel and cellar ageing, which brings out its more rounded and interesting features.


Primitivo is not the easiest grape to grow or manage, and it has had something of a difficult century. Indeed, by the 1990s, there was little interest in Puglian wines in general, and winemakers were neglecting their Primitivo vineyards and looking to other, more commercially viable varietals. However, the last decade has seen this grape come well and truly back into fashion, with new techniques and a heightened interest in native Italian grape varietals bringing Primitivo back into the spotlight. It is now widely loved for its intensity and ability to be paired with strongly flavored foods.