Healdsburg, Calif. -- Growers and producers of Petite Sirah heard practical advice from their peers this week at the Sixth Annual Petite Sirah Noble Symposium hosted by Lou Foppiano of Foppiano Vineyards, one of the longest-running growers and marketers of the traditional California variety.

The one-day meeting of 65 people was held in the context of rapidly rising sales for the dark red varietal. Nielsen Scantrack data show a 25% increase in dollar sales at supermarkets, drug and liquor stores in the 52 weeks ending June 30. Here are a few highlights from the informal presentations.

Mechanical Harvesting

Paul Foppiano of Foppiano Vineyards spoke about his success using mechanical harvesters for Petite Sirah, saying that his family's winery now picks 75% of its Petite Sirah crop this way. The variety is susceptible to sunburn, but using Korvan harvesters with bow rods "eliminates 100% of the sunburned berries," he said, because those berries either stick to the vine, or get blown out of the harvested fruit by the harvester's fans.

He said the Foppiano Petite Sirah comes out less tannic this way, because of fewer stem caps in the must, and the grapes the harvester takes are more uniformly ripe. His cost to contract for mechanical harvesting is $32 per ton, while with a hand crew, the cost would be $150 to $200 per ton.

Yeast Strains

Jeff Cohn of JC Cellars, an expert on Zinfandel and Rhône varieties after many years of winemaking at Rosenblum as well as JC, stressed the importance of using multiple yeast strains to get the most out of Petite Sirah. For Petite Sirah, some of his favorites are: the Shiraz strain Maurivin B that foams abundantly, in small amounts; D 80, a Rhône isolate that makes a hot ferment, lots of tannin and is very perfumed; D 21 in small amounts, a subtle strain that adds white peppercorn; the Syrah strain, "Great, I love it," he said; strain 43 for stuck fermentations; also for stuck fermentation, the Williams-Selyem or Jackass yeast, which is very expensive, however; and a yeast isolated from the Park Vineyard in Sonoma County's Rockpile AVA, VQ15, that adds mineral highlights and enhances fruit.

"At Rosenblum we experimented with yeasts all the time, and at one point we were using 18 white wine yeasts and 16 red wine yeasts," Cohn said. "You get more complexity and more control compared to indigenous yeast." One yeast that didn't work for Petite Sirah, he said, was Assmanhausen.

Cohn said he ferments Petite Sirah in small bins or tanks, and punches down by hand five times a day. He doesn't extend the maceration, but pumps directly to barrels as the must approaches dryness. He doesn't rack the wine--at all. When one winemaker questioned him on this, he repeated that he doesn't rack Petite Sirah in general, but does taste from each barrel every three weeks and will rack to clean it up if he starts getting off odors.

PS Marketing

Dennis Fife, proprietor of Fife Vineyards in Napa Valley, is a Rhône variety specialist and a veteran sales and marketing person. He told the group that marketing a little-known varietal such as Petite Sirah is a challenge. "We're insignificant compared to 500 Napa Cabernets," he said. But he added that Petite Sirah is a "fun" item in the marketplace, it's good with the right food, and it's not in oversupply. In fact, several vintners at the symposium said it's flying off the shelves right now.

Fife's advice is to communicate what's behind Petite Sirah. "Its the story of the wine that really sells it," said the former sales and marketing executive at Beaulieu, and manager of Inglenook. Also, focus on a few varietals, and focus on a few markets. You can't successfully do too many of these, he said. "Find the five or six people in the trade across the country who can really sell your Petite Sirah and focus on them," he said.

He told a story of how a top officer at one of the biggest distributors recently told him that distributors don't build brands anymore. "Use all the direct marketing you can," Fife said, "because you are the sole brand builder today."