There are two separate segments with this interview between Jose Diaz of Diaz Communications and Miro Tcholakov, the winemaker for Trentadue Winery.
Miro makes wine for both Trentadue Winery and also his own brand, Miro Cellars. Miro’s got the dream job… And, he’s one of the winemakers whom I’ve adored for a very long time. Miro became a member of PS I Love You a long time ago, supporting one of my passions… promoting Petite Sirah. He even registered Miro Cellars, once his own brand was up and running. Also, all we’ve ever shared have been good times and copious laughter, even during tough times. He’s a true wine industry friend.
Video One ~ In Trentadue’s Petite Sirah Vineyards: How Trentadue got into the wine business (via Paul Draper’s suggestion of being only grape growers at the time), and Petite Sirah being grown in their Alexander Valley Vineyard.
Video Two ~ In Trentadue Winery: Miro Talks about coming to the states from Bulgaria, discovering Petite Sirah for the first time and falling in love with the variety. He discusses winemaking techniques, the differences upon the wine from both French and American oak, and the advantages of Petite Sirah in restaurant wine-by-the-glass programs. He also gives great tasting notes for both of the wines presented, the Trentadue and the La Storia.
It may be helpful to know that the petite in the name of this grape refers to the size of its berries and not the vine, which is particularly vigorous. The leaves are large, with a bright green upper surface and paler green lower surface. The grape forms tightly packed clusters that can be susceptible to rotting in rainy environments. The small berries creates a high skin to juice ratio, which can produce very tannic wines if the juice goes through an extended maceration period. In the presence of new oak barrels, the wine can develop an aroma of melted chocolate
Brian R. Callahan
Massachusetts
Brian,
Thanks for that very concise explanation of Petite. I couldn’t have written it any better myself.
For anyone wanting more info, please check out PSILoveYou.org, the Website for the advocacy group that I founded in 2002 (about to have our ninth anniversary this September), and have remained its executive director.
It’s great Brian, to have someone else who “gets” it, also help to spread the gospel according to Durif.
Jo, I don’t think that this is any evidence that Brian necessarily “gets” it.
Rather, it seems pretty obvious that he went to the wikipedia entry, and cut-and-pasted the description of the wine’s characteristics (which I contributed to, along with a lot of other edits on the article, about 2 years ago).
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_sirah#Viticulture
Thanks for citing the info, Loweeel, as you being the original contributor. Now that we know that, is okay tat it’s cited, because it’s an endorsement of that public info. If it weren’t admired, Brian wouldn’t have taken the time to get those words for sharing. Good to know that you’re a source on Wikipedia for Petite Sirah. You’ve helped me to not have to be the only source for spreading the word everywhere. It’s such a laborious task, with the onset of the Internet and all the places that misinformation pops up, once it became Web 2.0.
Nice interview! The buzzing in the first video sounds like it might be one of the radio-controlled model airplanes playing around in the gorgeous RC aircraft flying field Trentadue Winery has in the vineyards off of Geyserville Avenue.
Exactly, Molly. It was a fly at a picnic, but we got through it, not knowing when it would stop. (Ha!)
Hey, quiet little vineyard bocce ball courts are a dime a dozen. Trentadue Winery is nothing if not unusual–in a good way.
Molly,
You’re so funny and right.