Western Living Magazine
Protected: Work where it feels like home, say goodbye to the commute
The Ultimate Home Design Guide: Top Designer Tips for Every Room
You’re Invited: WL Design Talks With Trish Knight and Nicole Varga
5 Incredible New Wineries Have Hit the Okanagan
The Grape Escape for Wine Enthusiasts
The Gin of the Summer (and Fall, Winter, Spring) Is on Sale
Dark Skies in Utah: Chasing Cosmic Connection on the Road
Cycling the Emerald Isle: A Windy Adventure on Ireland’s Greenway
Glamping Utah: Adventure Has Never Felt So Good
Trending Now: 10 New Furniture and Homewares for Fall 2023
Paint Trends 2024: No One Can Agree on the Colour of the Year
Discover California Closets – BC
Q&A: Meet the Texas-Based Contemporary Artist Dan Lam
5 Reasons to Enter the WL Design 25
Introducing Western Living’s 2023 Designers of the Year Award Winners
An Aussie crowds in on the Petite Sirah game.
Quarisa Caravan Petite Sirah $17Petite Sirah is as American as they come (even more than Zinfandel), so an Aussie “having at go at ‘er” is akin to making them making V-8 sports cars —messing with the Red, White and Blue itself. The grape produces wines that are usually described as spicy and plummy and the tannins are, well, tough, so in some ways the grape is well suited to the country’s that gave us Tom Selleck and Paul Hogan. It’s a yeoman grape—aside from a few examples from Turley and Ridge it’s rare to see a bottle over $30, even up here, and frankly that’s just fine as it usually lacks the subtlety to justify a high price. That sounds like a put down, but it isn’t. I’d rather have a $16 bottle of Petite Sirah that expresses broad flavours of dark berry fruit than some generic $30 Cabernet from the appellation “California” that doesn’t know what the hell its trying to do. In the wise words of Bushwood Country Club’s Judge Smails “The world needs ditch diggers too”.This wine isn’t a ditch digger by any stretch—the Aussies have softened much of the Durif’s (that’s what they call the grape down under) hard tannins but they haven’t overwhelmed it with oak. As a result it has a level of freshness that’s rare in Petite Sirah and it keeps the wine from being overwhelming, and it avoids the sweetness that infects some of the Aussie Shiraz. The irony is, at $16, it’s the best deal of any Petite Sirah in the market, even when it comes from halfway around the world.
Are you over 18 years of age?