2004 Trinitas Cellars Russian River Valley Petite Sirah

Mission Codename: Final Call

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Revisit Trinitas Cellars, raid their library, and procure all remaining bottles of their superb 2004 Bacigalupi-grown Petite Sirah for our PS-loving Operatives

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Trinitas Cellars

Wine Subject: 2004 Petite Sirah – Bacigalupi Vineyard – Russian River Valley

Winemaker: Matthew A. Cline

Backgrounder: Petite Sirah’s California roots dates back to when it was believed to be a close relative of the Syrah grape. Later it would be found to be genetically identical to the Durif, named for its after French discoverer François Durif who found that the varietal was a Syrah grape pollinated with Peloursin flowers. Its smaller berries with higher skin to pulp ratio leads to more intense flavors. Another benefit of the smaller berries are tighter clusters that are more resistant to mildew. Currently Petite Sirah is less popular in France and increasingly popular in the United States.

Today’s Petite comes hails from grapes grown by the world renown Bacigalupi family, whose vineyards in the Russian River Valley are legendary

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – A gorgeous deep beet root color, with violet highlights and glinting pink edges. The wine has a clear but darkening heart and the wine shows a tight surface that settles quickly when swirled. When the wine snaps back to settled, color-stained legs take a long time to emerge – before they crawl slowly down the glass

Smell – A big bold rush of delicious, real fresh plum, fresh jammy blackberry, blueberry, cassis, soft oak and brown spices, followed by tones of brown sugar, vanilla and blackest cherry

Feel – Soft and wet on the attack, light-weight at the tip of the tongue. Then, quickly but subtly, a mid-palate dryness makes a softly grippy appearance, coating the mouth with medium dry tannins

Taste – Delicious and fruity, spicy and bold, leading with dark mixed berries, black cherry, cassis, black licorice, soft oak and cracked black pepper, capped off with a hint of tasty forest floor

Finish – Slightly dry and very lush with layers of dark flavors that start sweet and ripe, but then tail off slightly tart as a soft mineral coatingis left behind – while flavors tail off slowly

Conclusion – In a word: Wow!. Our dear friends at Trinitas Cellars have scored big with this wine by sourcing fruit from the Russian River Valley vineyards of the Bacigalupi Family, a multi-generational wine growing family with a reputation for growing some of the finest fruit available. Today’s very limited wine is sure to sell out, so please do not delay if you love great Petite Sirah. We got our hands on all remaining stock. This is a big, layered, delicious and beautifully balanced wine with plenty of character. The wine is bold, but not overpowering. In fact, I would havee to declare it to be one of the finest Petit Sirah I have tried. I love this wine. I am certain that you will, too. If you manage to get your hands on some!

Mission Report:

Below is a recap of Agent Red’s original mission when he visited Trinitas Cellars:

Located at the southern end of the Napa Valley, nestled behind the Meritage Resort & Spa and buried in and underground cave, lies a remarkable secret: Trinitas Cellars.

Trinitas first came to my attention while on stakeout during a prior mission. I was on a vetting mission and was keeping an eye on a potential new asset. If this person proved to have the connections that she was reported to, I’d be recruiting her by days end.

I had followed her to the Meritage Resort, when she was having what looked to be a poolside meeting with a group I recognized as some heavy-hitters in the biz. These guys are all business and so I knew that my target must have the chops that her dossier suggested.

A waitress offered me a menu but I politely waved it away. Instead, I simply asked her for a glass of their best house Pinot Noir.

The wine arrived. The waitress set it down on the table in front of me. I handed her a $20 and told her to keep the change. I sat and watched my target for some time before finally picking up the wine.

I inhaled deeply – and the hairs on my neck stood up. This, I could tell, was one excellent wine! I spent the next several minutes enraptured by the wine. It was a young wine, I could tell, but it was very impressive.

When I finally looked up, my target was gone! How could I let myself be so distracted? On scanning the area, my eyes came to rest on an anomaly in the landscape; The hill that sat behind me, over my right shoulder, was obviously manmade. I had seen enough ‘hills’ like this to know that it was a wine cave!

I got to my feet and dashed toward the hill. Cleverly concealed as it might have been, I quickly found the entrance. Once inside I made my way through the cavern, eventually finding – a full tasting room!

And there, at the bar, was my target and her cohorts.

The woman behind the bar beamed at me and said, “Welcome to Trinitas Cellars!”

Trinitas, eh? This requires deeper investigation…

Agent Red, out!

Agent White, reporting:

Is Agent Red losing it? Does he need glasses? The sign above the wine cave clearly reads, “Trinitas Cellars”. At least he returned to HQ with samples of that Pinot Noir. The Pinot, of course, turned out to be a 2007 Carneros Pinot Noir from Trinitas – and today we are proud to present you with an opportunity to try this special wine for yourself.

As for Agent Red and his mission worthiness, we are recommending that he be placed under closer scrutiny. His wine-finding skills are still top-notch, but his methods and his reports leave just a tad to be desired!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Trinitas Cellars cave tasting room and winery can be seen, behind the Meritage Resport & Spa, in this satellite photo.