Varietal
Port is a fortified wine – either red or white – that is created by adding brandy during fermentation to kill the yeasts (arresting fermentation) and to produce a very sweet wine that is high in alcohol. Discovery of Port is credited to an Englishman from Liverpool who sent his sons to Portugal in search of wine after King William had effectively halted French imports to England with the levy of high taxation. The sons happened upon a monastery where they discovered the abbot adding brandy during rather than after fermentation. The resulting sweet, alcoholic wines were immediately popular in parched England. We have made this port using Petite Sirah, an intensely flavored red varietal noted for its strong tannic structure and inky color.

Vintage
The amount of rainfall, though early, was normal. Dry weather reigned from March, the warmest March on record, to October. The warm weather jump-started the growing season, making farmers nervous (much more time for things to go badly). Things did cool down for spring and thus extended bloom. Periods of long bloom affect uniformity in reds causing a potential of uneven ripening within an individual grape cluster. In our vineyards, we ‘green drop’ to balance the crop and eliminate late ripening fruit at the end of verasion. Summer was moderate without any heat waves; but it was humid raising concerns of mildew. By the end of July it was evident that an early harvest was upon us. High temperatures are not unusual in late summer and early fall but humidity under 20% is very unusual. In fact the average low humidity over the previous five years didn’t go below 30%. Extended periods of hot, dry weather are difficult for a grapevine to endure. With almost two weeks of 10 - 20% humidity in late August and September, mildew was now the least of concerns! Grape sugar was soaring before flavors had matured; our growers did a great job sustaining vineyards until flavors developed. By the end of September we were evaluating an outstanding vintage. 2004 is a vintage of ripe and well-developed flavors with the best overall quality in years.

Vinification
Strict tannin management is a must with Petite Sirah. The lot for this wine fermented for five days before being arrested by brandy fortification. The wine was pressed, racked in 4 days to barrel and aged for 10 months in older American oak. The wine was bottled, unfiltered on August 16, 2005 Alcohol 20.0%, T.A. .51, pH 3.88, residual sugar 6.5%.

Tasting Notes
This is a huge and complex wine showing chocolate, blackberry, plum, bramble and spice notes married with mellow American oak vanilla. Reminiscent of vintage ports, ours gets its strong tannic backbone courtesy of the Petite Sirah.

< Back