It is this combination of soil and climate that allows the grapes to  ripen fully and slowly, producing well developed fruit with that great intensity of flavor and the soft, developed tannins with none of the harsh, green flavors that can come from grapes grown in a cool climate.  According to Charlie the 2007 harvest was a great one.  The growing year was a little cool, with a good hot spell in late August, a wet and cool early fall, followed by a warming spell that allowed the grapes to ripen fully for harvest by the end of October.  This was a year of longer hang times that is a critical element to the development of fruit with great complexity and intensity.  By all indications this will be a vintage to watch  when the wines finally make it to the market in the next few years. 

The Winemaker:   Lava Cap’s first, and only winemaker is the son of  Jeanne and David Jones, Tom Jones.  Tom earned a Bachelor of Science degree from University of California, Davis.  At that point Tom changed his major to Oenology and went on to complete the master’s program at Davis in 1987.  During this period of time was when Lava Cap completed their winery and were producing their first wines, so Tom was a student during the week, and a winemaker on the weekends; not an easy task. 

Twenty years later, Tom is a seasoned winemaker working in a state of the art facility making wines that truly exhibit their sense of place.  His aim is to produce varietals with rich flavors, soft tannins and great balance.  Many of the wines of Lava Cap have a soft dustiness that reflects the decomposed granitic and volcanic soils of the estate vineyards. 

The Petite Sirah grapes from Granite Hill vineyard present some special winemaking challenges for Tom.  Who ever decided to call this grape petite has obviously never had wine made from the petite sirah grape.  This is a misnamed monster in body and flavor, and I mean that only in the best way.  There are a lot of Petite Sirahs on the market with green, rough tannins that need years to become drinkable, but when well made petite sirahs can be entrancing in their boldness.  Tom explained how this is such a bold grape that when the harvested grapes are brought in the aroma fills the entire winery.The extraction process is the critical element in making a good Petite Sirah.  The process is like walking on a knife’s edge between too much tannin and getting that intense flavor; too much extraction can make the wine rough and too tannic to drink, not enough and the flavors don’t come through.   Obviously that walk along the edge for the 2004 Petite Sirah was a successful one, as you will see. 

The Wine:  This is as inky and black a Petite as I have seen with slow, deeply colored legs that leave a purple hue on the inside of the glass; an example of the intensity the wine embraces.  The nose is very spicy with quite an array of fruit that includes big blueberry, cassis, a little black cherry and a some blackberry in the background.  There are some definite floral notes and a wonderful impression of cedar and vanilla as it opened up.  Continued ...