Beaulieu Vineyard's Tapestry Reserve 2018 is a red wine made from Bordeaux-style, a blend of five grape varieties grown at Napa Valley and California. Five grape varieties, one wine, each variety was harvested and vinified separately before blending. The winemaking process was tailored to the characteristics of each variety and each vineyard, and this is the very essence of this wine: The primary variety, Cabernet Sauvignon, contributes nuances of blackberry and cassis, while the proportion of Merlot has been increased compared to the previous vintage to soften the tannins and add depth to the mid-palate. Malbec contributes plum aromas, while Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot add undertones of rose, forest leaves, and graphite.
The 2018 season was a leisurely one for growers of the Napa variety. Budbreak began at the end of February; spring was mild, and the prolonged flowering period resulted in the formation of uniform clusters. Temperatures remained warm and stable throughout the season, and the harvest began 10 days to three weeks later than in 2017. Growers of the Some Napa variety continued harvesting into late October. Yields for the California variety were high, above the historical average, and the fruit ripened uniformly without rushing to maturity.
This slow maturation is reflected in the wine poured into the glass as the flavor of fruit that is fully ripe but not overripe.
Robert Parker (91)
The 2018 Reserve Tapestry Proprietary Red Wine is blended of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec and 1% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color, it bursts with open-knit notes of black cherry preserves, warm cassis and redcurrants, plus hints of forest floor, clove oil and Ceylon tea, with a waft of wild sage. The full-bodied palate has a soft texture of ripe, fine-grained tannins and lovely freshness, finishing savory.
James Suckling (94)
This is layered, with chewy tannins and attractive blackcurrant and blackberry character. Chocolate and walnut highlights. Full and flavorful, but not heavy in any sense of the word. Cabernet sauvignon, merlot, petit verdot and cabernet franc. Better in a year or two.
Jancis Robinson (17)
2018 was a 'near-perfect vintage'. Winemaker Trevor Durling said, 'Mother Nature threw nothing at me to force me to harvest earlier. We even reached phenolic ripeness before the sugars were high enough to pick.' 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec, 1% Cabernet Franc. This is 95% their own fruit, we're told. Fruit sourced from Rutherford, Calistoga, Oakville, Coombsville, Carneros and Howell Mountain. Each variety is vinified separately. Optical sorting, cold soaking, gentle pumpovers and fermented in stainless steel. Malo in French oak barrels, 60% new, where the wine spends 22 months. TA 6.4 g/l, pH 3.78.
Sleek with a fragrant note of fresh laurel leaf whispering cool somethings above the audaciously ripe, red fruit. It's voluptuous, but not without intricacy – mint, blueberry and jasmine entwine a long, soapstone-smooth graphite spine, and the acidity has lustrous intensity, crimson ripeness. It almost feels as if it's dripping down your chin. What it lacks in subtlety, it makes up in sheer sumptuousness. Tamlyn Currin
Jeb Dunnuck (90)
The 2018 Red Blend Tapestry is a perennial good value and has up-front darker currant and plum fruits as well as notes of tobacco, chocolate, and spicy oak. Medium-bodied, firm, and focused on the palate, it shows the style of the vintage nicely and should keep for upwards of a decade.
