This past weekend I wanted a slab of meat and my wife acquiesced, so rib steaks it was! As I have posted here a few times, the steak and potatoes recipe worked great for our Sabbath dinner! The steaks were good, but still not as good as the first time, because well – who knows! Anyway, the potatoes were also not full-on crunchy, but in the end, who cares – meat and potatoes, enough said! The meat was great and the fresh green salad was the cherry on top.

The wine we enjoyed for dinner was the 2009 Dalton Petite Sirah, which showed much better than last time. It is once again showing blue notes, but the wine is rich, layered, and round with sweet notes.

Wine note follows below:

2009 Dalton Petite Sirah – Score: B+ to A-
This bottle was better than the last one – but it is still a wine that I do not think is getting better and has clearly entered the drink now to drink up mode.

The nose explodes with boysenberry, blackberry, licorice, roasted animal, smoky notes, and very good spice. The mouth is medium+ in body, with clear influence from being in American oak for 12 months, good smooth and integrated tannins that meld well with the sweet cedar and floral notes, along with ripe and sweet cassis, black plum, raspberry, and red fruit. The finish is long and spicy with leather, chocolate, vanilla, cloves, black pepper, and a lingering sensation of dirt.