Hosts: Richard & Suzi Mills
25609 Gold Ridge Drive
Castro Valley, CA
Suzi and Richard Mills were pleased to host the August 2024 tasting. We chose a tasting of California Petite Sirahs which included vintages from 2015 through 2021.
As a control, of sorts, we decided to include the winner of the October 2023 Big Red competition to see how it compared to other Petite Sirahs (thank you Steve Shank!). The wine, 2019 T-Vine Frediana Vineyard took first place again with 70 points. The next five wines were relatively close in ranking (82-97 points), although there were enough distinctions to provide clear preferences. The last two wines were, unfortunately, substandard to the group (116 and 141 points respectively).
The early evening was delightful; four pre-tasting wines were offered outside, with a catered dinner provide by Chef Vanessa, including salad, petite filets, salmon, Japanese yams, and cookies for dessert.
The guests enjoyed more wine in our backyard after dinner. We had two wine-loving guests join us for the evening and Cellar Society members were able to meet and talk with Cathy Merrill and Martin Friedrich.
| Rank | Points | Wine | Bottle | Price | |
| 1 | 70 | T-Vine Petite Sirah 2019 Frediana Vineyard | 2 | $55.00 | |
| 2 | 74 | Coppola Petite Sirah 2020 Vevill-Wolcott | 3 | $50.00 | |
| 3 | 82 | Caymus Suisun Grand Durif 2020 | 6 | $57.57 | |
| 4 | 84 | Turley Napa Valley Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard 2021 | 5 | $110.75 | |
| 5 | 92 | Stags’ Leap Petite Sirah 2018 | 1 | $38.70 | |
| 6 | 97 | Concannon Heritate Petite Sirah Livermore 2015 | 4 | $84.30 | |
| 7 | 116 | Ridge Petite Sirah Lytton Estate 2020 | 7 | $40.68 | |
| 8 | 141 | Page Mill Estate Petite Sirah 2017 | 8 | $35.44 |
| Individual Votes | ||||||||
| Rank | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 8 |
| Total Points | 92 | 70 | 74 | 97 | 84 | 82 | 116 | 141 |
| Your Name | Btl 1 | Btl 2 | Btl 3 | Btl 4 | Btl 5 | Btl 6 | Btl 7 | Btl 8 |
| Suzi Mills | 7 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| Simone Biles | 1 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 8 |
| Laura | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Jim F | 2 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Marie Coppola | 2 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
| Susi E | 6 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Phyllis Harding | 7 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 8 |
| Ed | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 |
| Steve Shank | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| Richard | 5 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| Vince | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Lisa | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 |
| Diane K | 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 8 |
| Sandy | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| Karen | 6 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Bob | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| Marjie | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| Bette | 8 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Cathy | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 3 |
| Steve Smith | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 7 |
| Marty | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
Cellar Society of San Francisco 