BV Georges de Latour Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve 2017 (Magnum 1.5L)

BV! One of Napa Valley’s most historic estates, with over 120 years of unquestioned excellence. This magnum is a showstopper – 97 POINTS and one of James Suckling’s Top 100 Wines of 2020! We worked out a deal with a friend to bring them to you today at $135 less than the winery retail!

Beaulieu Vineyards. The great one. The history, the legendary winemaker André Tchelistcheff, its status as one of only sixteen wineries to have survived the dark ages of Prohibition, its noble beginnings in the early 1900s, so many amazing old wines… and this! Napa’s first-ever “cult” cabernet.

When Georges de Latour brought over a young André Tchelistcheff just three years after Prohibition’s repeal, he flexed a little bit for his new winemaker by pouring him a taste of the family’s private reserve of the best barrels. These were meant for the family’s own consumption, entertaining guests, and the like. Tchelistcheff wouldn’t hear of it and insisted that they bottle these as the winery’s newest flagship, limited-production wine. Georges would pass a short time later, and the family agreed to heed Tchelistcheff’s request. In 1940, the 1936 Georges de Latour Private Reserve was released, and a legend was born!

“I’d wager that there are so many Napa Cabernets made today that if you stacked them one by one, they’d reach all the way to the moon. But if you stacked them in order of historical significance with the most profound bottles forming the base, the number one bottle would have to be Beaulieu Vineyard’s legendary Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.” - Jonathan Cristaldi, Food & Wine

Today, the Private Reserve enjoys its own winery – across Napa’s famous Highway 29 from BV’s grand main facility, and closer to the family’s original home. Here, winemaker Trevor Durling blends two prime lots on the soils of Rutherford’s cherished western benchlands. He is just the fifth-ever winemaker in BV’s 120+ year history, and in the past few years, he has crafted an impressive array of this wine. This 2017 is a phenomenal example of a great Rutherford cabernet – a towering mass of power and depth, enrobed in Rutherford’s unique dusty elegance. Each sip is so very intense, deeply concentrated, tightly wound, and full of complexity, with a very fine balance that bodes for tremendous development to come. There is an almost Bordeaux-like feel to this with a focused streak of pure cassis, anise, that fantastic spearmint note, some dark chocolate shavings, and toasted cloves, plus a dash of torrefaction (that roasting coffee beans sensation). Brilliant stuff and a must-have addition to your collection.

PAIRING IDEAS: Raise a baby cow on verdant green pastures, give it a growler of beer each week, plus daily deep-tissue massages with a bit of rice wine, and let it grow for 3+ years. Finish it with 6 weeks of heirloom corn in its diet, and viola! You have your own Kobe beef. Now, the wine is perfectly aged, the beef is pristine, and you’re in for the best steak and cabernet experience of your life. Alternatively, just wait a couple of years and buy a nice steak to serve with this...your call.