Beaulieu Vineyard Maestro Collection Port Napa Valley 06 375ml

Tasting Notes:
The sweet, opulent flavors of our Maestro Collection Port come from four varietals: Touriga Nacional, Charbono, Tempranillo and Petite Sirah. Touriga Nacional—considered Portugal’s finest grape for making port—gives the wine intense black raspberry fruitiness, deep red color and a floral perfume. The Charbono adds firm, velvety tannins and complex notes of sun-dried strawberry. Crushed ripe blackberry flavors come from Tempranillo, while the splash of Petite Sirah enhances the structure and deep purple color and adds spice. Barrel aging melds all the flavors into a delicious dessert wine that displays deep, luscious blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, chocolate, black licorice and spice aromas and flavors, with complex nuances. Sip our port’s decadent flavors at the end of a candlelight dinner or by the fireplace with dark chocolate or walnuts, pears and creamy blue cheese. Only about 400 cases are produced.

Vineyard Notes:
We harvested the Touriga, Charbono, Tempranillo and Petite Sirah grapes from our BV Ranch No. 12 near Calistoga in northern Napa Valley. Located along the Silverado Trail at the base of the eastern range of mountains, this vineyard’s soils are packed full of volcanic cobblestones that have been washed down Selby Creek from Dutch Henry Canyon, making the vines struggle and root deeply to find nutrients and water. Windy afternoons result from marine currents coming through breaks in the Mayacamas Mountains and through Knights Valley. These conditions give the grapes a mountain-grown intensity even though the vineyard is on the valley floor.

Winemaker Notes:
Following destemming and light crushing, we ferment the must (juice and skins) in bins or temperature-controlled tanks. Heat produced during fermentation brings the temperature up to approximately 85° F. The winemaker must follow the fermentation closely to stop it at just the right unfermented sugar. “That point always seems to come at 2:00 am on Sunday morning,” laughs Winemaker Domenica Totty. “I come into the winery and add a 20- to 25-percent addition of high-proof brandy, which will deactivate the yeast and leave about six percent residual sugar in the wine. After I add the brandy, the cap of skins is punched down every two hours through the morning to thoroughly mix it in.” After pressing by hand, we make a preliminary varietal blend of half the wine, leaving the remainder as individual lots to add later. The wine is transferred to older, neutral barrels for 18 to 22 months of aging. Finally, we make the final blend of approximately 50 percent Touriga, 20 percent each Charbono and Tempranillo and 10 percent Petite Sirah.