I don’t know if you’ve seen my deep dark dungeon where I store my wine. Ok, it’s a coat closet. This COVID thing’s got me like “When can we finish construction on the awesomely designed—and legit—wine cellar?!?!?. Ah well, like Indiana Jones, I lit a torch and ducked beneath the dusty remains of corpses who traversed these parts before me. Wine to the left, wine to right, wine all around me. How…how am I to know which is the right bottle for tonight? I can barely see. Quickly…quickly I must make my choice before the walls collapse around me and a bolder of a wine cask comes rolling towards me. Grab something! Grab anything! Now Run!!!!
About the Wine: Two Angels 2016 Petite Sirah by Quintessential Wines
Grapes were harvested from the Red Hills AVA in California’s Lake County
14.3% ABV
Flavor Profile:
Appearance: Medium ruby
Aroma: Initial aromas are medium (+) intensity and showing signs of development. Aromas include: blackberry jam, forest floor, cedar wood, stewed black plum, fig, prune, toast/smoke, leather, and dried eucalyptus
Palate: The palate is dry, with medium (+) acid, medium (+) tannin, medium (+) body, and high alcohol. The flavor intensity is medium (+) with the flavor profile matching that of the aromatic profile, but increasing those notes of prune, fig, leather and forest floor and introducing a fun dried blackberry note as well.
The finish is medium (+) in length.
Conclusion: Based on the WSET criteria, I conclude that this wine is very good and has the potential to age further.
Food Pairing: I paired the Two Angels 2016 Petite Sirah with a an herb crusted lamb rack served with pea purée and a beetroot salad. A couple of notes here: Firstly, the gaminess of the lamb, it’s innate fattiness and juiciness, helped round out the tannins and, thus, the overall palate of the wine, while the beetroots called back some fresher fruit notes that were otherwise hidden when tasting the wine on its own. That being said, when you take your initial sip of this wine, those tannins are quite assertive in their approach, but rest-assured, even with just 10 minutes in the glass, they start to melt away. You can decant this wine, and that may help speed up the process, but it’s not the kind of tannic, chewy, pulpy wine that requires you to do so.
All-in-all, for the price point I’d say this is an intriguingly mature wine: firm in its structure without being presumptuous—that acidity perfectly balances the tannins and aged fruit and earthy notes. Drink now, but it’d be interesting to see how this wine develops as well.
More Info: I received the Two Angels 2016 Petite Sirah as a gift from a friend (Cheers!). Retail: $27. For more information about Two Angels or Quintessential, please visit the Quintessential Wines website.
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