Petite Sirah pairs best with heavy and fatty meat-based dishes like Barbecue Ribs, Ribeye Steak, Prime Rib, Venison Stew, and Veal Chops. Petite Sirah is a full-bodied red wine featuring chewy flavours of blackberry, blueberry, plum, spice, tar, black pepper, meat and earth. High in alcohol and tannin, Petite Sirah is powerful when young, however, the tannin will soften when aged for a decade or longer.
Originally produced in France, Petite Sirah has become more of a California thing with notable producers including Epiphany Cellars, Bogle Estate, Ravenswood, Stag’s Leap, Turley, Concannon and Edmeades.
Best Food with Petite Sirah
Ribeye Steak & Petite Sirah Pairing
Petite Sirah is an excellent wine pairing with Ribeye Steak as the velvety flavours of blackberry, blueberry, raspberry and plum will keep you refreshed as you devour your steak. If your Ribeye steak is medium-rare, the pairing will taste even better!
When your steak is rare, less fat is cooked off, making for more flavour. Flavour is exactly what you need in your food when putting it up against Petite Sirah, as this red wine is bold with flavours of blackberry, huckleberry, black coffee, dark chocolate and earth.
Finally, Petite Sirah is high in tannin, making it quite bitter and astringent when young. When pitted against a fatty Ribeye Steak, the steak’s fat will tame the tannin found in the wine allowing the wine to taste rich, velvety and smooth. Even better is that tannin breaks down protein molecules, which will further improve the taste of your Ribeye Steak!
If Ribeye Steak is not in your budget, Petite Sirah will go well with a wide variety of steak cuts or types, such as NY Strip Steak, Porterhouse, or anything featuring a pepper sauce. In fact, be prepared to enter heaven with a steak such as Steak Au Poivre, as the notes of ground pepper that Petite Sirah exhibits will complement the pepper sauce of the steak.
Beef Stew & Petite Sirah Pairing
A thick and meaty beef stew or venison stew containing tender chunks of meat, a tangy sauce, along with earthy vegetables like carrots, onions and potatoes is amazing with a full-bodied Petite Sirah. With Petite Sirah being such a full-bodied red wine, it needs a dish high in fat and protein to stand up to this rich and chewy wine.
Petite Sirah has inky flavours of cassis, black cherry, and plum, which are refreshing against the heavy flavours of your stew. Meanwhile, the wine’s notes of black pepper, earth, tar, dark chocolate, blood and licorice blend right in with the variety of flavours that make up your stew.
BBQ Ribs & Petite Sirah Pairing
The inky flavours of Petite Sirah hold up to BBQ Ribs that have been smothered in a rich and sticky BBQ sauce. With its notes of smoke, meat, blood, blackberry and earth, Petite Sirah has no problem holding up to the heavier BBQ sauce flavours.
With this pairing of red wine and ribs, I would highly suggest an aged Petite Sirah as a young Petite Sirah will across as much too bossy for the tender meaty flavours of your barbecued ribs. With an aged Petite Sirah, the wine won’t be so tannic and astringent, ensuring you won’t crush those hard-earned barbecued meat flavours you sweated over the grill for so long.
Grilled Hamburger & Petite Sirah Pairing
If you haven’t noticed by now, Petite Sirah is an amazing wine to pair with beef. So forgive me in advance as I continue to rave about how amazing Petite Sirah is with Grilled Hamburgers.
For this pairing to work best, you want a Hamburger made from medium ground beef (or something even fattier). This full-bodied red wine will crush wimpy lean burgers with no flavour and that have been cooked to well-done. Save those hockey pucks for the dog and treat yourself to a juicy Hamburger instead.
You’ll also want to keep your toppings to a minimum. Ketchup, mustard and relish will get in the way of your Petite Sirah, plus the wine has enough volume to add all the flavour you need, such as refreshing flavours of cassis and spicier notes of black pepper, tar, meat and smoke. Suggested toppings include caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, melted swiss cheese and aged gouda.
Meatloaf & Petite Sirah Pairing
The robust and intense flavours of Petite Sirah pair perfectly with the savoury and rich flavors of meatloaf, providing a balance of flavours that can elevate the dining experience. The wine’s high tannins also help cut through the meatloaf’s fattiness, cleansing the palate and enhancing the overall flavours of the dish.
If your Meatloaf is glazed with a ketchup-based sauce, stick to a lighter red than Petite Sirah, such as Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Barbera or Chianti. Petite Sirah will go better with a naked Meatloaf made from medium ground beef that has developed a nice crust. In this instance, the Meatloaf will soak up all the delicious flavours the wine exudes, such as cassis, plum, black cherry, leather, licorice, smoke and dark chocolate.