Beaulieu Vineyard Zinfandel Napa Valley 06

Tasting Notes:
Grapes grown in lean, stony soils give our 2006 Napa Valley Zinfandel dense black raspberry, plum and boysenberry fruit character. With the signature spice and pepper notes of great Zins, this wine’s lush flavors offer smooth tannins and a long fruit-filled finish. It’s the perfect running mate for smoky, barbecued meats—from flank steak rubbed with black pepper to wine- and herb-marinated chicken. You’ll also find its zesty flavors complement pizza and pasta dishes, especially those with sausage and mushrooms.

To develop our Zinfandel’s inherent spiciness, we cold soaked part of the crushed grapes for gentle extraction before fermentation in stainless steel tanks. After pressing, the wine completed malolactic fermentation in barrels for roundness and complexity. Ten months of aging integrated subtle oak nuances, while dashes of Petite Sirah and Touriga enhanced the deep color and array of flavors.

Vineyard Notes:
In the early mornings of late September, we hand picked Zinfandel from Beaulieu Vineyard Ranch No. 12, just south of Calistoga along the Silverado Trail. This vineyard’s soils are studded with volcanic cobblestones that have washed down from Dutch Henry Canyon over the millennia. The vines root deeply for nutrients and water, resulting in concentrated, small berries. The two Zinfandel blocks were planted in the early 1970s on phylloxera-resistant St. George rootstock and trained on a two-wire trellis. “This Zinfandel yields wines with amazing deep black raspberry character,” says Elizabeth Florence-Forster, Senior Grower Relations Manager. “The vineyard definitely has personality.”

Production Notes:
Napa Valley

Winemaker Notes:
Mother Nature showed us her temperamental side in 2006— pounding us with heavy spring rain, making us sweat out a heat wave, and then turning gracious by providing perfect conditions during harvest. Rains lasted unusually late into spring, June tallied slightly above-average temperatures and then hot weather arrived in July. Napa’s renowned morning fog returned in August and continued through September and October, fostering outstanding quality grapes.