We tasted the other night these two Jaffurs Petite Sirahs Archibald Cuvee:
1. Jaffurs Petite Sirah ThompsonVnyd/SBCnty Archibald Cuvee Jaffurs/SBCnty (15.5%) 2019: Very dark/black color; intense blackberry/PS/spicy bit peppery some toasty/pencilly/oak some fumey/alcoholic loads of fragrant PS fruit nose; bit soft bit alcoholic intense ripe/blackberry/spicy slight peppery some toasty/pencilly/oak slightly rough intense ripe/PS flavor w/ ample chewey tannins; almost like a big/extracted SBCnty Syrah w/ more intense fruit; doesn't show the clunky/oafish side of many Calif PS's; one of the very best Calif PS's made; should easily go out another 10 yrs. $nc (SH)
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2. Jaffurs Petite Sirah ThompsonVnyd ArchibaldCuvee (15.7%; Inaugural Vintage) 1993: Very dark some black color; intense blackberry/PS/peppery/earthy/bit rustic some toasty/oak bit alcoholic fairly complex lovely intense fruit nose; very strong/intense peppery/PS/blackberry some toasty/oak pretty rugged/tannic flavor; very long intense blackberry/black pepper some earthy/dusty some toasty/oak lovely youthful PS flavor w/ some hard/rough/drying tannins; a bit drying on the palate but still loads of ripe PS fruit.
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More zibbletrite from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. The Jaffurs PS is my absolute favorite PS made in Calif. The Archibald Cuvee is one of the unicorn wines and is only found in those Jaffurs PS's that come thru LosAlamos. It sells on the open market at a premium price.
The '93 was the inaugural vintage of the Jaffurs PS. It was the first crop of PS off the ThompsonVnyd and was made by DaveYates. When it was poured at a Jaffurs release tasting, it was the big hit of the evening. So Craig wrested it away from DaveYates and put it out under the Jaffurs label.
Larry happened to be visiting Jaffurs the day when that first load of PS arrived and was requisitioned to help w/ its production. He used to strut around our tasting group bragging how he "made" that wine. In point of fact, he was only working at the sorting table and was responsible for plucking out the earwigs that came in on the grapes. The pay was zip, but his fringe benefit was all the earwigs he could eat.
This inaugural '93 was in remarkable shape for a '93. Drying out just a bit on the palate, it still was loaded w/ PS fruit. It should go on for a number of yrs yet.
Tom