An earthquake is rattling the Sacramento wine region. Petite sirah, syrah and barbera are challenging zinfandel as the wine most responsible for the standing of fine-wine appellations in Sacramento's backyard.
This conclusion is based on an analysis of 13 commercial wine competitions over the past year.
They've been judgings that customarily draw entries from such local appellations as the Sierra Foothills and Lodi, enological enclaves long celebrated for the caliber of their zinfandels.
While the results generally affirm zinfandel's reputation as the grape and the wine that show best locally, its celebrity is being challenged by other varietals, especially petite sirah and syrah.
Of the 61 red wines from Lodi to win gold medals in the competitions, 18 were zinfandels, while 13 were petite sirahs.
The results were even more dramatic for wines from Nevada, Placer and El Dorado counties. Of the 108 red wines from the three counties to win gold medals, 20 were syrahs, 17 were petite sirahs and 14 were zinfandels.
Of the 88 red wines from Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa counties to win gold, 29 were zins, 13 syrah, 10 barbera and five petite sirah.
What's more, two of the three red wines to most consistently win gold medals on the competition circuit during the past year were petite sirahs: the Michael-David Winery 2005 Lodi Earthquake Petite Sirah and the Jeff Runquist Wines 2006 Clarksburg Enver Salman Vineyard Petite Sirah.
Each won four gold medals, the Michael-David from such judgings as the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and the Long Beach Grand Cru, the Jeff Runquist from such venues as the Los Angeles County Fair and the California State Fair.
Runquist credits Enver Salman's petite sirah vineyard in the Delta for the consistently strong showing of his wine.
"To get a wine to stand out in a competition, it has to be varietally correct but still distinctive. In the past, so many coastal petite sirahs were so big, coarse and tannic you had to put them in the cellar and hope that in 25 years they'd be palatable," says Runquist. "But the Enver Salman petite sirah is so much softer than that. It's inky, rich, full and distinctive, but without tannic coarseness. "
David Phillips, president and co-owner of Michael-David Winery, credits the meticulousness of his growers and winemakers for the strong showing by his and his brother's petite sirah. The two get grapes from more than 20 vineyards, ferment each batch individually, and then taste through them all, selecting the best lots for the Earthquake.
"The cream of the crop goes into the Earthquake, and then it goes into new (oak) barrels for some nice barrel age," says Phillips. "Our winemaking team is doing a great job, and growers have preserved a lot of old-vine petite sirah around Lodi."
The third red to win four gold medals in the 13 competitions was the Michael-David Winery 2005 Lodi 6th Sense Syrah.
In tracking the results of wine competitions, The Bee took its cue from sports leagues and created an imaginary Superior California Association (SCA). The SCA has four conferences – Lodi, the Northern Mines (Nevada, Placer, El Dorado), the Southern Mines (Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa), and Yolo (Dunnigan Hills, Clarksburg).
Each conference was divided into four divisions – rosé wines, white wines, red wines and dessert wines.
As in other sports leagues, the intent was to find those wines that won gold medals most consistently over a long season in a series of venues with an ever-changing cast of opponents and umpires.
Silver medals, bronze medals and other awards, such as best of class and sweepstakes, weren't factored into the standings.
The strongest-performing wines and the closest races invariably were in the red divisions. No surprise, given that the wine regions about Sacramento long have been noted for doing best by reds that thrive in warmer climates, especially zinfandel – and, increasingly, petite sirah, syrah and barbera.
