Beaulieu Vineyard BV "Georges de Latour" Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 (Napa Valley, California) - [WE 97]
Beaulieu Vineyard BV "Georges de Latour" Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 (Napa Valley, California) - [WE 97]
Beaulieu Vineyard BV "Georges de Latour" Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 (Napa Valley, California) - [WE 97]
Beaulieu Vineyard BV "Georges de Latour" Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 (Napa Valley, California) - [WE 97]

Beaulieu Vineyard BV "Georges de Latour" Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020
(Napa Valley, California) - [WE 97]


$180.00 $139.97 Save $40.03
/
WE97
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About the Winery:

BV's vines were first planted back in 1900, when founder Georges de Latour noticed similarities with his native Bordeaux and declared the Napa Valley ideal for winemaking. Planting vineyards in Rutherford with grafted, phylloxera-resistent French vines, the Cabernet Sauvignon that de Latour crafted from these grapes gave the world a taste of California's promise as a world-class winemaking region.

In 1938, de Latour hired the young Russian-French enologist, Andre Tchelistcheff. The legacy of Beaulieu Vineyard has helped shape American winemaking for more than a century. Their highly-acclaimed, iconic Cabernets were the first cult wines in the US and have been served at the White House for more than five decades.


About this Wine:
Our Georges de Latour Cabernet Sauvignon has been widely recognized as the benchmark Cabernet Sauvignon from Rutherford since its inaugural vintage in 1936. Our understanding of terroir comes from more than 100 years of creating 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 vineyards.

Tasting Notes

Our 2020 Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is a powerhouse example of our flagship wine, with an intense and fragrant bouquet of ripe, dark berries, grape compote, black cherry, orange peel and black plum, alongside savory perfumed notes of wild violet, rose petal, fresh spearmint, Bay Laurel and earth. Warm baking spice notes from the French oak barrel influence adds vanilla, caramel, and allspice. Saturated dark fruit is present and voluminous throughout the palate, exhibiting mouthcoating structure, with density and enveloping richness. Full-bodied and multilayered, secondary notes of bittersweet dark chocolate, savory umami, leather, tobacco leaf, and graphite add additional nuance and complexity. The signature “Rutherford Dust” tannins are pronounced, framing the wine, and present a firm grip, with chewy, cocoa-powder-like texture. The mouthwatering palate is lively and fresh with balanced acidity, demonstrating length and a lovely generosity. Certain to age for many years to come and incredibly pleasing and enjoyable upon release.

Vineyard:

We hand selected grapes from the finest Cabernet Sauvignon vines from the western bench of the Rutherford AVA in our iconic BV Ranches No. 1 and No. 2, originally planted by Georges de Latour in the early 1900s. We focused on clonal selections (6, 4, 169, 7 and 8), which yield small berries with the high skin-to-juice ratio needed to make intense, long-lived wines. The fruit was handpicked and optically sorted once it arrived to the winery in order to ensure the highest quality selection. These specifically chosen vines are deeply rooted in the well-draining alluvial fan soils of Rutherford, considered one of the finest regions in the Napa Valley for Cabernet Sauvignon.

Vintage:
The 2020 season was a warm, dry winter and the rain and cooler weather didn’t arrive until the end of March. While the mild spring season was a great early start, summer brought very cool mornings and very warm days. The white wine harvest started in late August, with the wines showing excellent development in the cellars, reflecting the fine vintage year. While the red wine harvest was smaller yielding, proving to be one of the most challenging in history, our winemakers remained optimistic and very complimentary of the high quality achieved from this unprecedented vintage. The resulting 2020 wines are of very high quality with concentrated flavors and excellent acidity, especially for varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon.

Winemaking:
At our state-of-the-art winery, dedicated exclusively to the crafting of the Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, a portion of the wine is fermented in new French oak barrels which provides early integration and enhances the dense, rich texture. The balance of the must is fermented in stainless steel and concrete tanks which preserves the freshness of the fruit. Following judicious extended skin contact, the wine was pressed and returned to barrels for malolactic fermentation and aging. A small amount of Petit Verdot and Malbec were blended with the Cabernet Sauvignon to further enhance the wine’s aroma and flavor profile. We work very closely with our barrel producers, being highly selective in the limited number of cooperages we use, as well as ensuring the style and consistency of the barrel is exactly right and an appropriate match to the style we’re aiming for when crafting our Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This barrel regime is very important to the elevated quality of this wine.

Ratings & Reviews

97 Points, Cellar Selection - Wine Enthusiast

"Cellar Selection - "Fascinating, fresh and ripe fruit flavors fill this full-bodied, velvety-textured wine with blackberries, raspberries and cranberries. Subtle oak spices add interest from the aroma through the finish. Decant this time-tested wine if drinking soon. Best from 2027–2040.” - Jim Gordon