WTN: Foppiano PS '05

Really good! Just a touch tight on opening, but 10 minutes brought it right around to be a classical Foppiano PS.
First night was with a grilled leg of lamb steak. The wine was a little soft, easy to quaff. I've found that to be true of a lot of Sonoma County 2005 reds, but was a bit surprised to find it in the Petite Sirah.
I could even drink it with salmon in a pinch, and I did the next night, a king salmon steak pan-broiled with tarragon butter.
Saturday was with spaghetti and a meat/mushroom sauce, and last night I finished it with a grilled ribeye.
My experience with Foppiano PS has been that it tends to improve for at least ten years and will be fine for 20 years or more. I've now opened three bottles of the '05 and found them to be much softer than usual, more "new world". I'm not sure that's totally a good thing, but the wine is very enjoyable, just sooner than I had expected.
Calif., Russian River Valley, Foppiano Petite Sirah, Estate Bottled 2005 $19.00 Bought at the winery 9/08, 14.5% alcohol

John

[Jenise]

Always liked those Foppianos; I love driven little wineries like this that have that one, passionate focus. Haven't seen any since moving up here, though.

By my standards, Foppiano isn't all that little. They do around 100,000 cases, in the same range as Dry Creek Vineyards. Not like Yoakim Bridge (qv. my other post tonight). Yet, what they do, they do well. BTW, Lou Foppiano, who has passed his 100th birthday, is still around and still active in managing the fields. I've met him and he's an interesting person, not that much older than my father would be.
Their PS is the heart of their business, and to my taste is the standard for the variety in Sonoma County, much the same as I consider Dry Creek Vineyards the standard for Dry Creek-style SB. (But David Coffaro is better than the standard!)
Foppiano also makes a pretty good RRV Pinot Noir that's right up there in the QPR standings. Drinkable, reliable and tastes like PN and not like something concocted to please the critics.

John

I'll look for this, John. I have enjoyed Foppiano's Lot 96 in the past.

I need to give Foppiano a second chance. I visited the winery a few years ago and through the wine was mediocre at best. The server was drunk so I'm not quite sure she what she actually served...

I need to give Foppiano a second chance. I visited the winery a few years ago and through the wine was mediocre at best. The server was drunk so I'm not quite sure she what she actually served...

Me too, last few vintages I have tasted did not match wines from the late `90s.

Hey all! I work at Foppiano and wanted to clarify a few things. Foppiano Vineyards is now in its fifth generation, founded in 1896. Louis Foppiano Sr. turns 101 in November, showing you just how good Petite Sirah can be for you. He retired in 1996 from any role at the winery. He's pretty frail but tours the vineyards with his caretaker (in a car) almost every day. We have 160 acres total and 120 planted.

Glad to hear you guys all like the '05 and the Lot 96. With our new winemaker, Natalie West, who started in 2008, we're a whole new estate winery. Updated the equipment, the oak program and vineyard management. Kind of like what happened in Spain in the past decade. If you liked the 2005, you'll be blown away by the 2008, which is the current release.

Foppiano makes about 10,000 cases, not the 100,000 mentioned. In the past, they reached those heights but with a white zin program that was killed many years ago. We now focus on our estate varietals (Petite Sirah, Sauv Blanc, Chard and Pinot Noir) and strive to improve them each vintage. You will likely be seeing our new 2009 Lot 96 hitting the national market in November. A killer Sonoma County PS blended with Zin, Carignan and Grenache. $10-$12 too.

Bob and David: please try us again! Natalie is making magic with the wines. I am a former syndicated wine columnist (who still blogs at tayloreason.com and also writes for this site), and moved to Sonoma County to work at Foppiano. I really, really believe in what is happening here. And the old days of slack customer service are long gone...

Cheers!

[Robin Garr]

Cheers!

Hi, Taylor! It's good to see you in the forum. Welcome!

Hey all! I work at Foppiano and wanted to clarify a few things. Foppiano Vineyards is now in its fifth generation, founded in 1896. Louis Foppiano Sr. turns 101 in November, showing you just how good Petite Sirah can be for you. He retired in 1996 from any role at the winery. He's pretty frail but tours the vineyards with his caretaker (in a car) almost every day. We have 160 acres total and 120 planted.
Glad to hear you guys all like the '05 and the Lot 96. With our new winemaker, Natalie West, who started in 2008, we're a whole new estate winery. Updated the equipment, the oak program and vineyard management. Kind of like what happened in Spain in the past decade. If you liked the 2005, you'll be blown away by the 2008, which is the current release.
Foppiano makes about 10,000 cases, not the 100,000 mentioned. In the past, they reached those heights but with a white zin program that was killed many years ago. We now focus on our estate varietals (Petite Sirah, Sauv Blanc, Chard and Pinot Noir) and strive to improve them each vintage. You will likely be seeing our new 2009 Lot 96 hitting the national market in November. A killer Sonoma County PS blended with Zin, Carignan and Grenache. $10-$12 too.
Bob and David: please try us again! Natalie is making magic with the wines. I am a former syndicated wine columnist (who still blogs at tayloreason.com and also writes for this site), and moved to Sonoma County to work at Foppiano. I really, really believe in what is happening here. And the old days of slack customer service are long gone...
Cheers!

Thanks for updating us on Foppiano, Taylor. It's exciting to hear about an old-time estate like Foppiano being infused by new blood like this. I try them about every 5-7 yrs (the PS); they're
pleasant enough old-timey PS at a fair price, and then promptly forget about them. So I'll try some new ones when I see them.
Met Lou way back in the late '70's and he was no spring chicken then. But when he walked me out into the vnyd....you could tell he was a farmer thru & thru. Kept pulling
off any stray shoots he didn't like the looks of. Interesting guy. It must frustrate the hell out of him to look out at those vines and not be able to get out there and work 'em.
And welcome to our little corner of CyberSpace, Taylor.
Tom

Hey all! I work at Foppiano and wanted to clarify a few things. Foppiano Vineyards is now in its fifth generation, founded in 1896. Louis Foppiano Sr. turns 101 in November, showing you just how good Petite Sirah can be for you. He retired in 1996 from any role at the winery. He's pretty frail but tours the vineyards with his caretaker (in a car) almost every day. We have 160 acres total and 120 planted.

Glad to hear you guys all like the '05 and the Lot 96. With our new winemaker, Natalie West, who started in 2008, we're a whole new estate winery. Updated the equipment, the oak program and vineyard management. Kind of like what happened in Spain in the past decade. If you liked the 2005, you'll be blown away by the 2008, which is the current release.

Foppiano makes about 10,000 cases, not the 100,000 mentioned. In the past, they reached those heights but with a white zin program that was killed many years ago. We now focus on our estate varietals (Petite Sirah, Sauv Blanc, Chard and Pinot Noir) and strive to improve them each vintage. You will likely be seeing our new 2009 Lot 96 hitting the national market in November. A killer Sonoma County PS blended with Zin, Carignan and Grenache. $10-$12 too.

Bob and David: please try us again! Natalie is making magic with the wines. I am a former syndicated wine columnist (who still blogs at tayloreason.com and also writes for this site), and moved to Sonoma County to work at Foppiano. I really, really believe in what is happening here. And the old days of slack customer service are long gone...

Cheers!

Taylor,

I'll give Foppiano another try... but only when they direct ship to Maryland (which started allowing direct shipment starting on July 1). I see that Foppiano (and most other wineries) still don't ship to MD. When will they start shipping to MD?

http://capwiz.com/freegrapes/issues/alert/?alertid=12660121

David

Taylor,
Thanks for jumping in and fixing up all my errors! (I just got back last night from a week in Poland.)
I'm impressed with Natalie's work that I've tasted so far. Last time I stopped by, the '08 PS wasn't out in the tasting room yet.

John

To my knowledge, they haven't released any licenses yet for Maryland. That could have changed in the past couple of weeks. The license is pretty expensive and, for smaller wineries like ours, we have to weigh the cost benefits of having it. But we do have Wine Club member clamoring for easier way to get wine rather than shipping it to DC. It's in the cards for Foppiano. Thanks for giving us a chance