Most people don’t know Petit Sirah or if they do, they confuse it with syrah or shiraz.  According to the advocacy group PS I Love You, Petite Sirah is the offspring of Syrah: “Every grape variety has two parents. In the case of Petite Sirah, those two parents are Syrah and Peloursin. That means that half of the genetic makeup of Petite Sirah came directly from Syrah. Syrah is the father of Petite Sirah in the true genetic sense.”

That more people don’t know their sirahs from their syrahs is a shame because it means they’re missing out on a big, juicy, inky “dark & delicious” wine!

It’s not surprising that more people don’t know about Petit Sirah: it’s commonly a wine used in blending, adding color and body and umph.

But when it’s good, or very very good, a winemaker will bottle straight PS –and that is an uncommonly good pleasure!

As you may know from reading this blog, I cut my wine teeth working at the Ridge tasting room up Montebello Road back in my 20s. They knew how to make some incredible PS then (and they still do).

So if you come across a petit sirah at a wine tasting, you should definitely ask to try it. Just last weekend, at Ventura’s Valentines n’Wine Passport Weekend, my husband had a few wonderful petit sirah experiences, especially Ojai Vineyard’s Petit Sirah…what a dreamy PS… and now he wants more!

A great way to discover how great Petit Sirah can be is by tasting a lot of it by several different winemakers. And since PS is such a great food wine, an even better way is through pairings of food with Petit Sirah.

Which is exactly why tomorrow night’s “Dark & Delicious” is such a brilliant event: each PS is matched with a food prepared by top chefs in the Bay Area. If you’re new to PS like my husband, you’ll find plenty to fall in love with!

At this year’s “Dark & Delicious” in Alameda Friday February 18 from 6-9pm, nearly 50 wineries will be pouring their wines and another 30 restaurants will be serving food to go with PS from:

1. Artezin Wines
2. Aver Family Vineyards
3. Ballentine Vineyards
4. Berryessa Gap Vineyards
5. Bogle Winery
6. Brown Estate
7. Clayhouse Wines
8. Cleavage Creek
9. Concannon Vineyard
10. David Fulton Winery
11. Diamond Ridge
12. Don & Sons
13. Ehrenberg Cellars
14. Estrella Creek Wines
15. F. Teldeschi Winery
16. Field Stone Winery
17. Foppiano Vineyards
18. Grizzly Republic
19. Gustafson Family Vineyards
20. Harney Lane
21. Jazz Cellars
22. John Robert Eppler Wines
23. Langtry ~ Guenoc
24. Lava Cap Winery
25. Line 39
26. Mettler Family Vineyards
27. Michael~David
28. Miro Cellars
29. Mounts Family Winery
30. Nottingham Cellars
31. Page Mill Winery
32. Parducci
33. R&B Cellars
34. Ripken Vineyards & Winery
35. Robert Biale Vineyard
36. Rock Wall Wine Company
37. Rutherford Grove
38. Silkwood Wines
39. Stage Left Cellars
40. Tercero Wines
41. Trentadue Winery
42. Tres Sabores
43. Turkovich Family Wines
44. Twisted Oak
45. Vezer Family Vineyard
46. Vina Robles
47. Wilson Vineyards

Dark & Delicious often sells out so purchase your tickets now for $63 each.

UPDATE: It is sold out! So remember to get your tickets earlier for next year!