Parducci "True Grit" Petite Sirah and German pot roast

Petite Sirah.

Here on this historic day, I’m thinking about… John Wayne.  

How true was John Wayne? He not only played plain spoken, hard drinkin’ sunuvaguns, by all reports he was one. Quoted in the late ‘60s, “I drink for comradeship, and when I drink for comradeship I don’t bother to count.” Heck, here’s a guy who was diagnosed with lung cancer in ’64, had his entire left lung secretly removed, then commenced to working, chewing tobacco and smoking cigars until a stomach cancer finally took him down in ’79. No matter what you think of his politics, that was some true grit.

Giants of a sort: John Parducci and the Duke.

So what’s up with this 2005 Parducci True Grit Mendocino Old Vine Petite Sirah (about $25), made by owners Mendocino Wine Company – a partnership headed up by Tom Thornhill and former Fetzer winemaker Paul Dolan that is also committed to sustainable grape growing, 100% green power (from solar and wind sources) and earth-friendly packaging, while converting into America’s first carbon-neutral winery? As the Duke might have said, sounds suspiciously lefty, limp wristed to me.

Well, this red wine is sufficiently true for two very good reasons:

1. It is bold yet plain spoken, starting with a black, almost blue color and deep, intense nose studded with a blueberry, blackberry, roasted coffee, toasted oak and sweet, almost balsamic-like concentration; followed by thick, bouncy, juicy qualities in the mouth, plumped out by dill-like oak and slightly chewy, wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am tannins.

2. In a lot of ways, the wine is a tribute to the original Parducci family, who from the 1940s to 1970s were hardscrabble, yet forward thinking, Mendocino pioneers; among the first in the state, in fact, to bottle varietally labeled wines, and certainly among the very first in the county to plant grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot noir.

For many years, former proprietor/winemaker John Parducci (who just recently turned 91, and still crafts wine with his grandson Richard at McNab Ridge Winery in Hopland) was respected in the California winemaking community as someone who made wines as plain and dependable, and stubbornly long-lived, as the man himself. I’d venture to say, Parducci Zinfandels, Petite Sirahs and even Pinot Noirs from the ‘60s and ‘70s are still being savored by old-time collectors today. This, too, is true grit.

Old school redwood vats at Parducci winery, still in use for old school wines such as Petite Sirah.

One of my most vivid California memories from fifteen or so years back was visiting another old timer in his 2,800 ft. high vineyard on Mendocino Ridge, where the wind is so cold and whip-like that old Zinfandel plantings tough it out by growing more like bent, bonsai-like bushes than graceful looking vines. We entered his dark home with wind whistling through the cracks in the wood, and sat at his vinyl kitchen table, where he sliced sharp, tough but fatty, spicy homemade Italian sausages and extra sharp cheddars, which we consumed with a bottle of zesty Petite Sirah, so dark that our thick lipped wine glasses looked like they contained black holes, the wine’s dense tannins sopping up the oily meat and cheese like nobody’s business. 

It’s moments like this that tell you why certain wines are made the way they are.

Here on earth, a good Petite Sirah like Parducci’s True Grit can do you just as well with the bevy of hoity-toity sausages and deeply cheddared artisinal cheeses found in our nearest natural food grocers (maybe John Wayne would have approved). Better yet, you could go with this recipe for German pot roast with vermouth and juniper, which I like because it is indeed cooked "drunk" on a botanical, and has the bitter/piquant flavor of juniper berries to brace the palate between draughts of a big tannin/alcohol Petite Sirah. 

If or when you enjoy this, don’t forget to raise a toast to the men of old like John Parducci, and maybe the Duke if you don't mind the craggy flaws.