History
Although Petite Sirah has made its reputation in the USA, specifically in California, the variety, like many Americans, is an immigrant, in this case from France. While Durif never became popular in France, it was not long before soon-to-be Petite Sirah found a home, first in California, later in Australia and a few other spots. In California, growers began planting the grape as far back as 1884. By 1938, California plantings of Petite Sirah stood at 2,948 ha/7,285 acres. The reason so many vineyards were planted to Petite Sirah at the time was the grape’s immense popularity with home winemakers during Prohibition. While there are more ha planted to this variety today, ample amounts are used for blending purposes rather than vinifying it as a mono-varietal wine, which explains the sleuthing one must do to find classic 100% Petite Sirah.
California Petite Sirah Timeline
Dr. François Durif, a grape botanist and breeder at the University of Montpellier in Southern France, released a new variety that he named after himself. It grew from a seed he extracted from fruit of the old French variety Peloursin. Dr. Durif didn’t know the pollen source at the time, but we now know that it was Syrah. The combination of Peloursin and Syrah yielded fruit with saturated color and very dense clusters.
Durif was introduced into California by Charles McIver. He imported Petite Sirah for his Linda Vista Vineyard at the Mission San José in Alameda County. Petite Sirah entered the U.S. through the East Bay. Some growers called it Petite Sirah, which was a name commonly used for Durif in some parts of France.
The two earliest documents that Concannon Vineyard has in its possession are the 1880 State Viticulture booklet stating there are 540 acres of vines in Alameda County (Mission San José), and an 1890 article on Concannon’s shipment to Mexico listing Petite Sirah as one of the varietals. This information was from an article in the Livermore Herald, “A Million Grape Cuttings,” January 30, 1890.
Petite Sirah is one of the first Vitis vinifera to replace the Mission grape as an experimental varietal transplant in California. Petite Sirah is replanted in California and gains popularity. Note: “Petite Sirah” at the time could have been any one of several dark-skinned varietals, including the Petite Sirah clone, Syrah, Peloursin (Gros Béclan), Zinfandel, Mondeuse Noire, and Valdiguié among others in what we now call a “field blend.”
Petite Sirah becomes increasingly popular in California. (The name Petite Sirah was used for several varieties in California at that time, but most of it was probably Petite Sirah, Francois Durif’s crossing of Syrah with Peloursin.)
During Prohibition, Petite Sirah was shipped from California to home winemakers in the eastern U.S.
Approximately 2,954.20 ha/7,300 acres of Petite Sirah planted in California
Approximately 1,821.08 ha/4,500 acres of Petite Sirah planted in California. At this time, it was the second most red grape planted in the Napa Valley after Zinfandel (Comiskey p.1513 of 9162).
Concannon Vineyards of Livermore Valley released the first non-vintage 1961 Petite Sirah. While Concannon was the first to varietally bottle Petite Sirah, Lee Stewart of Chateau Souverain released his Petite just a couple of weeks after the Concannon release.
French ampelographers Paul Truel and Pierre Galet examined Petite Sirah vines growing at UC Davis and identified them as Durif. Professor Harold Olmo at UC Davis continued to believe that Petite Sirah in California was a mixture of at least three distinct varieties.
California Petite Sirah acreage peaked at around 5,665.59 ha/14,000 acres.
Petite Sirah acreage in California declines to a low of 971.24 ha/2,400 acres.
At UC Davis, Dr. Carole Meredith and her colleagues determined by DNA comparisons that almost all (more than 90%) of the vines in Petite Sirah vineyards are Durif and the rest are Peloursin (the mother of Durif)
The then-Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms proposed that Durif be approved as a synonym for Petite Sirah, and that Primitivo be approved as a synonym for Zinfandel. The proposal failed as the Primitivo-Zinfandel section was too contentious to pass.
Foppiano Vineyards creates the First Annual Noble Petite Sirah Symposium. Wine marketer Jo Diaz, Louis Foppiano, and Christine Wells (of Foppiano) launch PS I Love You, the marketing advocacy group for Petite Sirah.
Foppiano Vineyards organizes the 2nd- 4th Annual Noble Petite Sirah Symposiums.
Concannon Vineyard organizes the 5th Annual Petite Sirah Symposium. With a generous grant from Concannon Vineyard, a consumer-based wine and food event was created, taking Petite Sirah to the people. The late Kent Rosenblum of Rosenblum Cellars hosted the Symposium at his winery, which was a huge success, since becoming an annual fixture.
Concannon Vineyards produces the 6th- 11th Annual Petite Sirah Symposiums.
The TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) recognizes “Durif” and “Petite Sirah” (proper spelling with an “i”) as interchangeable synonyms referring to the same grape.
Petite Sirah plantings stood at 4,841.66 ha (4,708.92 bearing and 133.14 non-bearing ha), i.e. 11,964 acres (11,636 bearing and 329 non-bearing acres) through year-end 2020, representing 0.0255% of total vineyard plantings of all California wine grapes.
Renowned for its dark flavors and robust palate, Petite Sirah is at times described by some, more so than Zinfandel, as the most decidedly California wine. Its bottles easily deliver on the stereotype of a full-bodied wine with the ripe fruit so often associated with the Golden State. Yet ironically, it has never achieved the name familiarity of Zinfandel (with which Petite Sirah was most often planted in historic California), nor the status of Cabernet Sauvignon (with which it is today most often blended for color, structure, and weight). Until the early 1960s, Petite Sirah was one of the most popular grape varieties planted in California, or at least in the Napa Valley, where it ranked second only to Zinfandel in acreage. Since then, it’s fallen from favor, while the popularity of Cabernet Sauvignon continues to grow. However, over the past decade or so, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of Petite Sirah in California as plantings have continued to increase.
Petite Sirah claims a modest 4,842 ha/11,964 planted acres in the state, but the proportion of young vines on new sites to old vines in historic vineyards has, over time, evolved. Several of Petite’s most valued heritage vineyards are rapidly being lost to the economic pressures of land prices and economic sustainability. That said, those long-standing historic vineyards have also been influential in slowing the grape’s further demise. Their survival has inspired a respect for old California and a reconsideration of how to bring together modern winemaking with admiration for the history of its old vines. Many contemporary expressions of Petite Sirah illustrate this rethinking of the natural expression of the grape, pulling back not only on excessive vineyard ripeness but also on winemaking extraction in the cellar by reassessing a historical reputation for “big and bold,” focusing instead on aromatic freshness, while retaining a structure worthy of aging.