Beaulieu Vineyard Reserve Tapestry Red Wine Blend

Beaulieu Vineyard Reserve wines are handcrafted from the finest grapes of the vintage, focusing on our premier estates in Rutherford, Carneros and other Napa Valley appellations. For more than 100 years, Beaulieu Vineyard has set the benchmark for rich, classic Napa Valley wines. Our legacy honors the marriage between state-of-the-art technology and gentle, traditional winemaking methods, a combination that enhances the expression of our remarkable vineyard terroir.

TASTING NOTES
Our 2014 Tapestry reflects the 2014 growing season with its expressive, powerful aromas and flavors, along with a bold structure and density. This is a wine that shows the artistry of blending five Bordeaux-heritage grape varieties that contribute layer-upon-layer of flavor complexity. Cabernet Sauvignon gives the wine its generous core of juicy black currant, dark cherry and cassis, while the Merlot brings through a bright, ripe, glazed red-fruit character which helps to tame the tannins and add plushness and texture on the mouthfeel. Malbec contributes deep plum and briary blackberry notes, while the Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot complete the blend with nuances of violet, dried herbs and graphite.

VINTAGE
Dry, early and shaking is how 2014 will be remembered in Napa Valley, yet it had a silver lining with small, concentrated grapes and high quality. February’s rains brought the total rainfall up to low but adequate, helping to relieve three years of drought conditions. Warm temperatures promoted early budbreak and accelerated grape maturation. Just as harvest began, a dramatic 6.0 earthquake shook Napa Valley awake on August 24. We finished the very compact, plentiful harvest by mid-October and celebrated the vintage’s beautifully ripened grapes.

VINEYARD
We chose specific blocks of reserve-quality grapes that would give Tapestry the combined attributes of fruit expression and softer tannins for relatively early approachability. Half of the Cabernet Sauvignon was grown on the famous western benchlands of the Rutherford AVA, with the balance from the Stags Leap District, Atlas Peak and Coombsville AVAs. Merlot was sourced between our vineyards in the warmer parts of Carneros and the Rutherford Bench. The Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec came from our estate vineyards in St. Helena and Calistoga.

WINEMAKING
We tailored the winemaking for each varietal to best capture the personality of both the vintage and specific vineyard block. Cold-soaking of the destemmed grapes, gentle punch-downs in open-top fermenters and in-barrel malolactic fermentation all contributed to this wine’s richly textured flavors. Aging in 60 percent new oak barrels balanced the wine’s impressive depth of varietal expression with toffee and spiced nuances.