Concrete Countertop and An Outstanding Value On A Delicious Petite Sirah

I had the impulse after a long yoga class to do a petite sirah tasting at home. Part of it was the impetus to return to this blog, and have something to inspire me to do so. The two weeks leading up to September 1st were very intense at home and at work, and I've spent the last week feeling a bit hung over from the exertion.

I can't share the fruits of the work work, but the home work was an enormous facelift on our guest house, including new floors and a new kitchen.

(I've been interested in metalwork, stone, and concrete lately. So I decided to try a concrete countertop. Here's some photos...)

Laydown of leftover cabinets, plywood, and wonderboard

Concrete (sand mix, w/ brown powdered colorant added) was added to a form, leveled, and allowed to cure for 24 hrs

The finished kitchen!

I found the following book to be enormously helpful: Decorative Concrete by Sunset Magazine.

So on to the Petite Sirah...

Petite Sirah is an interesting grape. It began in the 1880's at the University of Montpellier, in the Rhone region of France, when Syrah vines pollenated Peloursin vines. The botanist who discovered this was named Francois Durif, and the plant is sometimes referred to as Durif. The resultant vines are highly resistant to Downy Mildew, and the grapes were traditionally used to add body to inferior wines. In California, it is still sometimes used that way today.

The wines made from Petite Sirah tend to be dark, acidic, with herbal and peppery notes, and with flavors of blue fruit, like plums and blueberries.

One of the wines from my Petite Sirah tasting was the 2008 McManis Petite Sirah.

Color: Inky purple.

Aroma: Blue fruit.

Initial Flavor: Strong blueberries, chocolate, and subtle smoke.

Finish: Fruit, Tannin. Paired well with creamy rich pasta sauce. Drops off quickly, typical of petite sirah, but some lingering chocolate.

Overall Impression: Good-Good wine.

Again, scale is [Crap, Okay, Good, Good-Good, Outstanding, Nectar of Bacchus].

I purchased it for $11.55 from my local wine retailer. Outstanding value.