Wine Article
2016 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve
Last edited on 10/21/2020 by srh
This is the only version of this article / View version history
“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 & No. 2, originally planted by Georges de Latour in the early 1900s. We focused on clonal selections (6, 4, 169, 5197, 7, & 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 chosen vines are deeply rooted in the well-draining alluvial fan soils of Rutherford, considered one of the finest regions of Napa Valley for Cabernet Sauvignon.
“At our state-of-the-art winery, dedicated exclusively to the crafting of the Georges de Latour Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine is fermented in roughly 50% new French oak barrels which provides early integration and enhances the dense, rich texture. The balance of the must was fermented in stainless steel and concrete fermenters which preserves the freshness of the fruit. Following judicious extended skin contact and in-barrel malolactic fermentation, the wine was pressed and returned to barrels for aging. A small amount of Petit Verdot (3%) was blended with the 97% Cabernet Sauvignon to further enhance the wine's aroma and flavor profile. With the 2016 vintage, we took more care in selecting the barrels chosen specifically for crafting Georges de Latour. We narrowed down our barrel coopers to the top 10 premium barrels to craft a Cabernet with incredible structure without any of the harsh grippy, astringent tannins that are sometimes associated with Napa Cabernet. This barrel regime is very important to the elevated quality of our Georges de Latour Private Reserve. Aged 22 mos in FR oak barrels (90% new); 14.9% ABV & 3.75 pH; 8,400 cases produced.”
98 pts Suckling (12/’19),
97 ea Dunnuck (1/31/20) & WA (Perrotti-Brown, 5/19),
96 Vinous (Tanzer, 4/1/19),
94 Jeff Leve (11/15/19), and
93 WE + “Cellar Selection” (12/1/19) @ $150!
“At our state-of-the-art winery, dedicated exclusively to the crafting of the Georges de Latour Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine is fermented in roughly 50% new French oak barrels which provides early integration and enhances the dense, rich texture. The balance of the must was fermented in stainless steel and concrete fermenters which preserves the freshness of the fruit. Following judicious extended skin contact and in-barrel malolactic fermentation, the wine was pressed and returned to barrels for aging. A small amount of Petit Verdot (3%) was blended with the 97% Cabernet Sauvignon to further enhance the wine's aroma and flavor profile. With the 2016 vintage, we took more care in selecting the barrels chosen specifically for crafting Georges de Latour. We narrowed down our barrel coopers to the top 10 premium barrels to craft a Cabernet with incredible structure without any of the harsh grippy, astringent tannins that are sometimes associated with Napa Cabernet. This barrel regime is very important to the elevated quality of our Georges de Latour Private Reserve. Aged 22 mos in FR oak barrels (90% new); 14.9% ABV & 3.75 pH; 8,400 cases produced.”
98 pts Suckling (12/’19),
97 ea Dunnuck (1/31/20) & WA (Perrotti-Brown, 5/19),
96 Vinous (Tanzer, 4/1/19),
94 Jeff Leve (11/15/19), and
93 WE + “Cellar Selection” (12/1/19) @ $150!