Our 2007 Petite Sirah Vintage Port was sourced from 60-year-old dry-farmed vines in a small block in Mendocino County. Following in the footsteps of their Italian ancestors, the Garzini family planted Petite Sirah vines in the volcanic soils of their home site. Over the many years, these old vines have become extremely low yielding knarly and straggly producers of small black bunches that screamed Vintage Port to us. Together with vineyard manager Peter Chavalier we were able to reach extreme ripeness and optimum levels of concentrated phenolics and flavors. To our delight, the old vine stress, the volcanic soil, and the warm climate combine harmoniously to create Petite Sirah clusters of the highest quality and the best potential for killer Vintage Port.
While these clusters of late harvested Petite Sirah gems are the backbone of this Vintage Port, there is another special component that is used to fortify this black nectar while achieving balance between alcohol and residual sugar. This other component is ultra premium brandy, distilled by a seventh generation Cognac master distiller named Hubert Germain-Robin. Hubert hand-distills his alambic brandies in Mendocino, not far from our Petite Sirah source, and his Germain~Robin brandies are some of the best on the planet! The result of marrying these two liquid gems together at just the right time during fermentation has produced an unctuous, inky, ultra ripe, opulent port with intense black fruit and dark chocolate flavors woven together by super rich velvety tannins. The mouth-feel and finish of this Vintage Port lasts for over 60 seconds as it slowly melts away.
Vintage Ports are built to last, and we anticipate beautiful layers to unfold for more than 25 years. We proudly offer you L'Anima 2007. Salute!
