In the shadowy twilight of the living room savanna, a peculiar herd stirs. Behold: the elusive winoceros. With hooves slung idly across ottomans and leathery gray ears as large as decanters, they are not creatures of haste. No, these magnificent beasts are patient... waiting, watching, thirsting. Today, they gather for a rare ritual: a vertical tasting of F. Teldeschi’s noble Petite Sirah — dry, dense, and utterly untamed. Let us observe, from a safe distance as they imbibe.
Petite Sirah (also known as Durif) typically produces deeply colored, rich, tannic wines that, in the best cases, are capable of aging for up to literally hundreds of billions of years* (*ADD SOURCE). Intense flavors of fruits blacker and bluer than my bruised ego, often showing black pepper, spice, chocolate, herbal and earthy notes. This week’s post is about some top tier Petite Sirah which is not for the faint of wallet, but if you want to learn more about the grape at a high level and catch reviews of some more budget friendly “examples” check out this post:
Located at an “undisclosed location” (3555 Dry Creek Rd, Healdsburg, CA 95448) in Sonoma County’s esteemed Dry Creek Valley is a family winery with a history that dates back to Italian immigrants Frank and Caterina Teldeschi. Frank, who arrived in the “United States” in 1929, together with his wife Caterina, established a vineyard that grew primarily Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane. The family has worked the land for multiple generations, with vines ranging from newly planted to some nearly a century old (LIKE ME!). Frank’s portrait and the family name proudly appear on every bottle as a testament to their heritage. For decades, the Teldeschi family cultivated grapes for other wineries before establishing their own label in 1991, led by Dan Teldeschi—Frank’s eldest son, now the winemaker and owner.
The Wine Road Podcast did an interview with Dan a few years back if you want to learn a little more about the story of Teldeschi from the man himself.
Our “Visits”
As “the story goes,” 13 years ago during a memorable visit Zach took to the F. Teldeschi tasting room with his wife, Natasha, Dan Teldeschi served sample after sample out of vintage glass medicine bottles, affectionately referring to himself as “The Medicine Man.” And the Medicine Man delivered - alongside the most recently available vintages, a highlight of this visit was an opportunity to sample older vintages of their Petite Sirah (including the 1999 featured today), all of which were exceptional.
Fast forward another 12 years to our excruciatingly wholesome “brothers trip” to Sonoma last summer – we fully intended on “paying tribute” to the incredible Petite Sirahs of Teldeschi winery, but ended up with our fragile little “hopes and dreams” squashed under the Medicine Man’s enormous dusty boots as we rolled up to the parking lot behind the tasting room, only to find that it was “closed,” for reasons that will remain a mystery until our “demise” (it was supposed to be “open” according to the listed “hours of operation,” but had we listened to this podcast prior to visiting, we would have learned the easy way that we just needed to call in advance to set up a tasting).
Teldeschi Petite Sirah (THE GOOD KIND!):
The Teldeschi Winery has a strong tradition of producing Petite Sirah, particularly from the Teldeschi Home Ranch vineyard located in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County. They are probably better known for their red Zinfandel, but since we already exhausted our lifetime quota of “Zinfandel content and imbibition” last week, we will conveniently focus exclusively on the far superior Petite Sirah grape this week. The vineyard provides an exceptional terroir for Petite Sirah, with crunchy little volcanic soils (THE GOOD KIND!), warm days, cool nights, and “medicine men galore,” creating ideal conditions for the humble Petite Sirah grape to “flourish” and produce concentrated, structured and age-worthy wines. So age-worthy, in fact, that the vintages we tasted this week weren’t even released until 10+ years after harvest.
DID YOU KNOW… Because “sharing is allegedly caring,” F. Teldeschi Winery in Dry Creek Valley is highly regarded for providing premium fruit from its family vineyard to other top wineries, including Anaba Wines. The exceptional quality of Teldeschi’s “sneaky fruit” is recognized across Sonoma County, with other respected producers such as Kokomo Winery also sourcing “less trendy” varieties such as Dolcetto from F. Teldeschi’s prolific little vineyards. These partnerships highlight the Teldeschi family’s wonderful reputation in the Dry Creek Valley, and the distinctive “terroir” of their vineyard holdings.
So without further ado, here are our notes on the 1999, 2001, 2002 (Lot 1 & Lot 2) and 2003 vintages of F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah (we were unable to track down the 2000, but all bottles we tasted can be found here for purchase).
… AND NOW FOR THE REVIEWS (IN ORDER OF VINTAGE):
1999 F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah
Z: Blackberry, cassis, prune, bay leaf, chocolate, earth, dried blueberry, baseball glove, lemon peel, wet stone, pine, tobacco / Dry, med + tannin, medium+ acid, full body, long finish
I: Juicy plum, sourdough yeast, violet, licorice, bay leaf, petrichor, black cherry / Dry, well balanced, smooth and silky med + tannin, med + acid, long finish
2001 F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah
Z: Tootsie roll, subtle blackberry, lemonade, tobacco, mixed spice, a bit thin / Dry, full body, medium acid, med + tannin, medium finish
I: Sour mocha yogurt, toasted mocha, cocoa powder, blackberry, black olive, decaying violet, sorghum wheat wine (like moutai), slight spice on the palate / Dry, med+ tannin, comparatively dull and flat, med- acid, med finish
2002 F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah Lot 1
Z: Blackcurrant, blackberry, wet stone, ballpoint pen ink, blueberry, mixed spice, milk chocolate, bay leaf / Dry, full body, medium acid, high tannin, long finish
I: Beautiful, bright fruit, extremely lively at this age, pink dragonfruit, wet stone, ripe juicy black plum, leather, blueberry, cacao, hint of chlorine pool (THE GOOD KIND) / Dry, extremely rich and concentrated, high acid, silky high tannin, long finish, tons of in-glass evolution
2002 F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah Lot 2
Z: Blackberry, blueberry, chocolate, prune, black plum, vanilla, rum, black cherry, mixed spice / Hot, dry, full body, medium acid, med + tannin, long finish
I: Dried strawberry, raspberry yogurt, blueberry, black cherry, chocolate, mixed spice / Dry, plush smooth tannin med+ tannins, med or med+ acid, long finish, full body
2003 F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah
Z: Blackberry liqueur, black plum, chocolate fudge, juniper, black licorice, blueberry, rum cake, violets, pen ink / Dry, high tannin, medium- acid, full body, long finish, a bit hot, very rich
I: Chocolate chip cookie, ethanol, ripe black cherry, juniper, black pepper, wet stone / Dry, hot, med + tannin, med+ acid, long finish. A little too hot. Plush.
While we were having such a JOVIAL time, we forgot to follow our system and score these. We did, however, fully align on our rankings for these:
1st - 2002 F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah Lot 1
2nd - 1999 F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah
3rd - 2002 F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah Lot 2
4th - 2003 F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah
5th - 2001 F. Teldeschi Petite Sirah
If we had to guess where these would all fall using our system, they probably span the 90-96 point range, with the 2001 being notably less to our tastes than the others (though still really good, probably ~89-90) and the others all grouping much closer together towards the higher end of that range (~93-96).
Well, as the old saying goes, “a bottle a day keeps the Medicine Man away,” so get to it.
Until next time, HAPPY DRINKING PEOPLE.
Cheers!
Isaac & Zach
A special thanks to Zach’s wonderful wife Natasha for ordering the wines and arranging the vertical tasting “event” that made this week’s post possible!
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