Beaulieu Vineyard BV "Georges de Latour" Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
(Napa Valley, California) - [JD 98+] [VM 98] [JS 98] [WS 95, #2 Top 100 of '24] [WE 95]

Name: Beaulieu Vineyard BV "Georges de Latour" Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 (Napa Valley, California) - [JD 98+] [VM 98] [JS 98] [WS 95, #2 Top 100 of '24] [WE 95]
Brand: RNDC (Young's Market)
Price: 159.97 USD
Availability: InStock

$180.00 $159.97 Save $20.03

JD98+ VM98 JS98 WS95 WE95

Size

750 ml

Quantity

Allow Vintage Substitution?

Description

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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

This is a truly remarkable vintage of our iconic flagship wine. The bouquet is intense with fragrant notes of wild sage, blackcurrant, cedar, and fresh mint. The palate is expansive and full-bodied with a sumptuous mouthfeel, showcasing layers of ripe blackberry, redcurrant, and red rose petal alongside earthier tones of graphite, licorice root, gravely stone, and dark chocolate. Subtle baking spices from the French oak barrel aging provide sandalwood, clove, and Ceylon cinnamon notes, while the signature “Rutherford Dust” tannins are silky, polished, and fine-grained, finishing long with a cocoa powder texture. Slightly reserved upon release but incredibly drinkable, elegant, and pleasing, the tannins provide approachability with beautiful harmony and balance. There is significant presence, depth, and concentration in this Private Reserve, foreshadowing cellar-worthy potential that will continue to evolve, unfold, and develop across the next few decades.

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 2021 season was joyous and welcome after the challenges of previous vintages, producing exceptionally high- quality fruit, some of the best in recent years. Rain early in the year led to almost no notable precipitation for the rest of the season, providing an ideal environment for grapes to flower, bloom, and set in early spring. Budbreak occurred early in April, followed by flowering and bloom in May. The summer saw early, even ripening throughout the valley, with veraison appearing in early July. Low yields, in part due to drought conditions, created intensely flavored small berries. After one of the earliest starts on record, harvest for red grapes began at the end of August. With optimal ripening and taste, our winemakers took their time bringing grapes in. The result is wines of fantastic character, with amazing color extraction, aromatic intensity, tremendous balance, and structure that are equally lush and fruity. A tremendous year to taste the nuances and terroir distinctions from around the valley.

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

98+ Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
"The flagship 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Georges De Latour Private Reserve is in the same ballpark as the 2019 and is an incredibly elegant yet concentrated 2021 that does everything right. Purple-hued, with ample cassis, wild sage, graphite, and darker chocolate-like aromatics, it picks up a Graves-like gravelly earth character with air and is full-bodied, has ripe, polished tannins, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. As with many of the top 2021s, it’s a touch reserved and closed and needs 4-5 years of bottle age, but will drink well for 30 years." (Dec 2023)

98 Points - Vinous Media:
"The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour is outrageously beautiful. A wine of statuesque build and class, the 2021 represents another major step forward for BV. Black cherry, plum, spice, new leather, menthol, mocha and gravel soar from the glass. This is an especially refined vintage for this flagship wine. Here, too, there is plenty of tannin, but it is not anywhere near as perceptible as it was in the past. Shorter macerations and gentler overall winemaking, including fewer lots vinified in barrel, have elevated the Georges meaningfully." - Antonio Galloni (Dec 2023)

98 Points - James Suckling:
"Intense aromas of iodine, blackcurrants, cedar, sandalwood and mint follow through to a medium to full body with silky tannins that spread across the palate and expand in a balanced and harmonized way. Hints of chocolate and fruit at the end. Some tar. Drinkable but better in a few years. Try in 2027 and beyond." (Jan 2024)

95 Points, Rank #2 Top 100 Wines of 2024 - Wine Spectator:
"This is packed with dark, winey flavors of black currant and blackberry paste underscored with alder, sweet tobacco, warm paving stone and black licorice notes, while a violet accent fills the background. The polished finish makes this accessible now, but there’s plenty of life ahead. Drink now through 2042." -James Molesworth (Nov 2024)

95 Points - Wine Enthusiast:
"Deep and brooding with concentration and velvety flavors. A subtle floral lift spins through flavors of sweet kitchen spices, black fruits, and savory length. A sprinkle of dried spices and tobacco add additional depth. Powdery fine tannins and a lengthy finish complete a Cabernet ready to drink now with the potential to develop for years in bottle." - ECB (Dec 2024)