J. Lohr Tower Road Petite Sirah 2018
-
Panel
Tasting -
Spirits
Wine & -
Enthusiast
Wine
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: 93% Petite Sirah, 3% Syrah, 3% Grenache, 1% Viognier
Professional Ratings
-
Tasting Panel
For the first time in 13 vintages, a small amount of Viognier is present in this wine. The grapes are grown on welldraining, heavy soils in Paso Robles’ Estrella District, where cooling winds meet warm days. Aged 16 months in (50% new) French oak, the result is not your typical Petite Sirah. Yes, it’s a true teethcoater, with blue fruit surging on a velvety sheath of black cherry and vanilla, but the aromas and flavors of violets, sweet plum, garden herbs, and white pepper remain distinct. It finishes with a lovely cranberry brightness.
-
Wine & Spirits
This is an exuberant petite, showing the sunny warmth of a Paso summer and all the fleshy fruit that good petite elicits. It smells of blackberries and clove, a hint of cardamom, with a juiciness that’s refreshing. The flavors are big and velvety, with firm but silky tannins, simple and irresistible for a plate of ribs.
-
Wine Enthusiast
This is a boomer of a wine, starting with hearty, clean and rich aromas of black currant and opulent caramel. There’s a firm, tannic frame to the sip, giving some balance to the cassis, baking spice and dried strawberry flavors.
Other Vintages
2021-
Dunnuck
Jeb
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Wong
Wilfred
-
Journal
The Somm
-
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Wong
Wilfred
-
Enthusiast
Wine
For fifty years and through two generations, the Lohr family and their team have been leaders in the California wine industry. Founder Jerry Lohr and his three children Steve, Cynthia, and Lawrence oversee one of the country’s most successful and trusted fine wine labels. With first plantings in Monterey in 1972 and then in Paso Robles in 1986, the J. Lohr team helped write the book on sustainable winegrowing on the Central Coast.
Today, J. Lohr farms more than 4,000 acres of estate vineyards in Monterey’s Arroyo Seco and Santa Lucia Highlands appellations, Paso Robles, and St. Helena in the Napa Valley. J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines produces eight tiers of award-winning releases: J. Lohr Signature Cabernet Sauvignon, J. Lohr Cuvée Series, J. Lohr Vineyard Series, J. Lohr Gesture, J. Lohr Pure Paso Proprietary Red Wine, J. Lohr Estates, J. Lohr Monterey Roots, and ARIEL Vineyards. J. Lohr was honored with the 2020 Green Medal Leader Award in recognition of the company’s decades-long commitment to sustainability.
With its deep color, firm tannins and bold flavors, there is nothing petite about Petite Sirah. The variety, originally known as Durif in the Rhône, took on its more popular moniker after being imported to California in the early 1880s. Quintessentially recognized today as a grape of the Golden State, Petite Sirah works well blended with Zinfandel and finds success as a single varietal wine in the state’s warmer districts. Somm Secret—Petite Sirah is not a smaller version of Syrah but it is an offspring of Syrah and the now nearly extinct French Alpine variety called Peloursin.
Paso Robles has made a name for itself as a source of supple, powerful, fruit-driven Central Coast wines. But with eleven smaller sub-AVAs, there is actually quite a bit of diversity to be found in this inland portion of California’s Central Coast.
Just east over the Santa Lucia Mountains from the chilly Pacific Ocean, lie the coolest in the region: Adelaida, Templeton Gap and (Paso Robles) Willow Creek Districts, as well as York Mountain AVA and Santa Margarita Ranch. These all experience more ocean fog, wind and precipitation compared to the rest of the Paso sub-appellations. The San Miguel, (Paso Robles) Estrella, (Paso Robles) Geneso, (Paso Robles) Highlands, El Pomar and Creston Districts, along with San Juan Creek, are the hotter, more western appellations of the greater Paso Robles AVA.
This is mostly red wine country, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel standing out as the star performers. Other popular varieties include Merlot, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Grenache and Rhône blends, both red and white. There is a fairly uniform tendency here towards wines that are unapologetically bold and opulently fruit-driven, albeit with a surprising amount of acidity thanks to the region’s chilly nighttime temperatures.