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I go through stages with Wine Library TV. When I first discovered Gary's podcast, I was pretty hooked and he helped me pick some wines to experiment with. Then I got a little bored with the content and, with all due respect to Gary, because I think he's doing something very interesting and unlike anything the wine world has seen before, had to walk away for a while. What got me back into him recently were two guests - Charles Smith of K Vineyards in Walla Walla and Maynard James Keenan of Caduceus winery in Arizona and lead singer of Tool and A Perfect Circle. Unfortunately, Charles Smith was a bit much for my taste - I love K Wines and think he's doing some very cool things in Walla Walla, but I just didn't need to hear that directly from him over and over. Maynard, on the other hand, is an incredibly mellow guy...loves being in Arizona, making wine and figuring out how to get all those crazy melodies and songs out of his head (he's got a new project called Puscifer that you have to hear to believe...).

So, I've now been picking and choosing only the Wine Library TV episodes that interest me. Episode #609 is one of those podcasts. It interested me because I'm a big Petite Sirah fan and I wanted to see if he thought Bogle was any good. I've seen it at a lot of parties, heard about it, seen it in pretty much every store I've been in and, because of all the widespread distribution, I guess I assumed that it was just another mass-produced, low quality California wine.

Luckily, I was wrong. This one has a lot of fruit - some berries, cherries, a little blackberry - and some good fresh earth (like after a spring rain, not too musty). It's remarkably well-balanced, especially for the price, and has a nice journey from start to finish. This one has the potential to hit some kind of "Best of" list for me this year, but it's way too early to make that call...stay tuned on that one.

From the winery tasting notes: Thirty years after it was first produced by the Bogle family in 1978, Petite Sirah is today considered Bogle’s “heritage” varietal. Overwhelming notes of ripe summer boysenberries and blueberries resonate from the glass before you can even pick it up. The trademark inky and jammy tones fill the mouth with black fruit: berries, currants and spice. Toasty oak surrounds the wine, adding subtle hints of cocoa and leather, lingering long after the sip is gone. !e firm tannins make this a wine that can develop for years to come, but you won’t want to wait that long to enjoy it!

What you should do: BUY THIS ONE! Or maybe buy more than one - this is a good one to have around to drink on a weeknight or even serve to guests. Put it in a decanter and don't tell anyone what it is and you're sure to have a crowd favorite on your hands.

My rating: 88