The story of today’s wine is the story of one of California’s greatest heirloom vineyards: Known as “Park Muscatine,” it was first planted on Napa’s Howell Mountain in the 1890s and later became a prized part of the Dunn Vineyards portfolio. Mike Dunn, Randy’s son, has long had a special affinity for this high-elevation parcel and its decidedly “retro” assortment of grape varieties, which includes the California classic Petite Sirah and, it turns out, one of its Old World genetic parents, Peloursin.

Mike and his wife, Kara, started their Retro label not only as a sort of homage to Park Muscatine but to showcase some of the foundational grapes of the California wine industry. Petite Sirah is undoubtedly one of those, but rare is the occasion when it is treated with the kind of attention Mike lavishes on it. Today’s 2014, which represents the wine’s second appearance on SommSelect, is Petite Sirah as you rarely (if ever) see it—full of richly concentrated dark fruit, yes, but also full of lively energy, which lends it a light-on-its-feet quality not often found in Petite Sirah wines. As I said about the 2012 version, it’s muscular but graceful, like an NFL lineman competing on “Dancing with the Stars.” Like his father’s famous mountain-grown Cabernets, the Retro wines demonstrate how power and finesse can coexist—and it starts with high elevations, volcanic soils, and old vines.

Today’s wine is named “Elevation,” in fact, to highlight the fact that its source material comes from vineyards ranging in altitude from 1,800-2,100 feet. Early bottlings of this wine originated from the Park Muscatine site, after Kara and Mike convinced Mike’s father to part with some of the fruit, but now there is another source coming online: a parcel Mike calls “Los Abuelos,” which was planted right next to the Dunn winery cave using budwood from Park Muscatine. Along the way, Mike learned (through genetic testing) that a goodly amount of the material he used is in fact Peloursin, which, generations ago, was crossed with Syrah to create Petite Sirah. Known as Durif in France (where it isn’t really grown anymore), Petite Sirah was introduced to the wider world in the late-1800s, and in the US, it was among the hardy varieties (others included Zinfandel and Carignane) that characterized the California wine scene of that era.

As Napa wine scholars know, the “Petite” in “Petite Sirah” isn’t a reference to the style of the wine; it describes the tiny, dark, skinned, ultra-concentrated berries this variety produces. Historically, it was used more as a fortifying, color-enhancing blending variety, but as producers in California and Australia have shown, there’s not only immense, dark-fruited pleasure to be derived from the grape: there’s also lots of aromatic nuance and profound soil character.

As Mike Dunn told us, 2014 was a warmer year than ’12, resulting in a slightly higher finished alcohol level, but again, “warm” is relative when you’re talking about the upper reaches of Howell Mountain. The AVA designation covers vineyards at 1,400 feet and above, which is above the fog line, resulting in more even day/night temperatures and, overall, a cooler environment that enables Petite Sirah to retain more acidity than is common in other terroirs. So, the story of this ’14 is ultimately quite like that of the ’12: inky color and loads of saturated black fruit, but lots of lift and nerve at the same time. Decant it about 60 minutes before serving in large Bordeaux stems at 60 degrees, and get ready to rock: saturated fruit aromas of blackberry, huckleberry, and cassis are layered with notes of wild sage, cacao nibs,  violets, warm spice, and dusty earth. It is full-bodied but not monolithically so, with the freshness that comes from high altitude and old vines. And although it drinks well now, it will continue to evolve in a positive direction over the next 5-7 years. I’m going to share the pairing we shared for the 2012, because I tried it, and can report back that it works like a charm. Cheers!