Tasting Notes

2016 Steamboat

Tasting Notes
Good to Know
Related Wines

Our 2016 Port-style wine is a juicy one. Jammy fruit dominates the palate with the perfect balance of sweetness. Aged a little longer than the original Steamboat which intensified the flavours and gave us a truly world-class "after dinner drink".

It was barrel aged for 40 months in Hungarian and French oak (We couldn't wait the 20 years that it takes to age Bob's favorite port, Taylor 20). We also fortified our port using distilled spirits from Old Fourth Ward Distillery, Atlanta.

Pairs perfectly with anything chocolate, and our very own hand selected & rolled Yonah Cigars (available only though the tasting room).

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Technical Information

Appellation:

100% California

Varietal:

100% Touriga Nacional

Alc/Vol:

20%

Harvest Date:

September 15th, 2016

Bottled:

June 15th, 2020

Cases Produced:

321 (12 x 500ml Bottles)

Good to Know

War is nasty. During one particular conflict, France cut off England's "water supply" by stopping the flow of wine from most of Europe to England. Unfortunately, the English discovered that the hot trip from an alternate wine source, the Iberian Peninsula, caused most of the wine to spoil. When English wine traders discovered fortified wine—wine in which brandy is added to stop fermentation—they found a wine that both resisted spoilage, tasted good, and had a higher alcohol concentration.

This style of wine received its name, "port", in the later half of the 17th century from the seaport city of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River, where much of the product was brought to market or for export to other countries in Europe.

Yeast can ferment wine up to about 17.5% alcohol. Any concentration of alcohol above this number is poison for the yeast, and they simply die. The addition of brandy or distilled wine to concentrations above 17.5% effectively ends fermentation. A standard wine practice for Port is to add enough brandy to ensure the alcohol concentration is 18% or higher, but not above 22%. Above 22%, the wine simply tastes too much like alcohol and burns too much for a great many of us.