Earthquake Petite Sirah wine strikes gold

Vintners Michael and David Phillips of Lodi again have struck gold — and lots of it —with their Earthquake wines.

The ultimate gold medal for the 2003 Earthquake Petite Sirah ($28 a bottle) came this winter at the annual San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition where it was recognized as best of class and sweepstakes winner for all red wines. All the judges at its tasting gave it the highest score.

Fifty-five professional wine judges from throughout the United States evaluated more than 3,200 wines at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds in Sonoma County. Michael-David Vineyards’ super-premium Earthquake was among more than 900 winery brands from California, Washington, Oregon and Idaho that competed.

What motivated the judges to select Earthquake Petite Sirah as the best among the very best?

It starts with the wine’s up-front blackberry flavor that is powerful like Titan, yet extremely smooth like Venus. The wine is potent at 15.5 percent alcohol, but doesn’t overheat one’s palate. At the midpoint, the wine ushers layers of flavors — first, black cherry and then, coffee bean. The soft, silky finish is of cigar box cedar and vanilla oak.

I was amazed at the wine’s well-developed structure, as if it was a novel with a beginning, a middle and an end. The wine is drinkable and enjoyable without further cellaring. French-born winemaker Franck Lambert was at his artistic best in blending the best grapes in Lodi.

Other wine drinkers like this petite sirah, too. Ever since the awards were announced in late January, the Lodi wine has been in demand by distributors throughout the United States. While it will never rival Michael-David Vineyards’ 7 Deadly Zins, the 56,000-case cult zinfandel, the Earthquake Petite Sirah is now part of a popular trio of Earthquake red wines that include the gold-medal zinfandel and syrah. A fourth Earthquake varietal, cabernet sauvignon, is expected to be in the bottle by fall.

With the sweepstakes award comes more publicity for the Phillips brothers. They will be pouring the wine at the Chronicle’s March 12 public tasting at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Betcha’ the line for a sip of this wine will be long.

The Michael-David Vineyards tasting room is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except major holidays, at Phillips Farms, 4580 W. Highway 12. Call 888-707-WINE or visit www.lodivineyards.com.

To reach Jack Eddy about his column, Cheers from the Vineyard, call him at 830-4233, fax to 835-0655 or send an e-mail to jwe@tracypress.com.

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