Winey Tasting Notes: My “Vicious” Dogs Check Out Vicious Petite Sirah

Rory, 3 months old
As you may have read recently on other articles in this blog, the Winey Household has expanded by four little feet…paws, to be exact. Her name is Rory and she is a Maltese/Shitzu mix. As of this writing, she weighs in at a whopping 3.2 pounds, adores her older doggie sister Chloe and sort of hops when she runs. Yup, we love her!

As you can she, she has pretty much cornered the market on “cute”. I routinely have to check the backpacks of The Winey Daughter’s friends as they leave to make sure no one has smuggled her out (there have been threats). Friends come to the door and the first thing they ask is “Where’s the baby?” She attended The Winey Daughter’s soccer game once and pretty much stole the show. She is all puppy.

So you can understand why I had to laugh out loud when I saw the label on a bottle of Vicious Petite Sirah. The doggie on the label is kind of cute, actually, but the idea of a vicious dog was so far away from the reality I was living that I just let out a chuckle. But of course, the very nice wine lady working near me heard me, because heaven forbid I don’t make a fool out of myself in the wine aisle at least once a month. I’m not sure what she thought my laughing meant, but she walked over and asked if she could help me. (Oh great. I must have sounded crazy…or something.) So I wound up explaining that we had a brand new puppy at home and how she was really tiny and we had only gotten her that week and she was so very cute and that the whole idea of vicious made me laugh. I’ll give her credit, she just listened and smiled at me. Wanting to steer the conversation to a more, well, sane, tone, I asked about the wine. (Good call there, Winey Mom.) She said it was one of their favorites, (it was on their “Best Wines Under $10” wall) and was a great buy. Well…it would be kind of fun to write a Winey Doggie post…so I got some.


I’m hiding!
Vicious Petite Sirah (2009, 14.1%, Central Valley, CA) comes from the Sobon Family Vineyards. It’s actually 78% Petite Sirah and 22% Zinfandel, which makes sense, since winemaker Paul Sobon has his very own Zinfandel vineyard as well as his family’s vines. It begins with a bouquet of sour cherry and raspberries. On the tongue, it’s got lots of fruit and mocha, which blend together to fill your mouth with flavor. There’s a little oak in there and it finishes with soft tannins. The whole “feel” of this wine was smooth and round and like I said, it felt like the flavors just filled my whole mouth. That touch of Zinfandel worked wonders. Nothing vicious here in any way.
Hmm…..doesn’t smell vicious

You can pair Vicious Petite Sirah with food or sip it on its own – preferably with your doggie snuggled nearby. Not your cat. Cats can go get their own wine labels – this one is for the Pooch.  
 
This is a definite buy again wine. Maybe I’ll get another bottle when Rory finally gets housebroken. Um, no. Given the size of her bladder, that could take way too long. Oh, and the very nice wine lady also showed me a bottle of the Vicious Red Blend. I’ve been so impressed with all the red blends lately that I’m going to go out and get a bottle of that too. Maybe that review will come out by the time Rory is housebroken. Then again…..I’d look for it sooner.
   
Cheers!
 
Winey Disclaimer: NO dogs were allowed to drink any of the wine during this photo session. I don’t care what you say about “dog years”, they are both underage. Like I’d share anyway. They’d probably pair it with a totally inappropriate bone or something.
 

One Comment

  1. Anonymous says:

    Love the puppy…need to try the wine!

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