1992 Dunn Petit Sirah Howell Mountain

For a few years in the early 1990s, Randy Dunn made a small amount of Petite Sirah, which, by his account, he largely forgot about for years until he started offering it to his mailing list recently. The 1992 Petit Sirah is absolutely striking. Iron, blood, smoke, tobacco and cedar wrap around a core of dark fruit in a powerful, wild wine bursting at the seams with personality. Now fully mature but showing no real signs of fading, the 1992 is in a perfect spot for readers who enjoy wines with tertiary nuances. The 1992 was made from Dunn’s Park Muscatine vineyard, the same site that informs Mike Dunn’s present-day Petites. It is fascinating to taste the 1992 for so many reasons. Apart from being exceedingly rare, is also seems to be more a wine of place rather than variety. In other words, terroir and microclimate dominate over more typical Petite flavors and textures. 93/Drinking window: 2014-2020.