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February 29, 2008
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2008-02-29
BEAULIEU VINEYARDS
Where the Reds are Stars
by Richard Paul Hinkle
Red wine has always been something of an iconic essence of Beaulieu. Indeed, more than half the winery’s production is given over to Cabernet Sauvignon today. “We are essentially a red wine winery,” says veteran winemaker Joel Aiken. “Three-quarters of our overall production is red, and has been for the last thirty or forty years. Up until the seventies, fortified wines were big. Table wines used to go bad, and higher alcohol made them bullet-proof. But tastes change. Oh, we started making a little Chardonnay when Kendall-Jackson and Glen Ellen made that wine popular in the eighties, but we’ve always been about Cabernet here. Perhaps we were ahead of our time, but the primary thing to remember is that our part of the valley is where Cabernet does best, where it really shines. Remember, too, that phylloxera helped to solidify that fact. Before, there used to be a lot of Chenin Blanc and Riesling planted here, and to get the good Cabernet you had to buy those varieties, too. Phylloxera forced growers and wineries to focus on what was best for each particular place. Cabernet is what’s best in Rutherford and Oakville.”
When Georges de Latour still owned the winery, his Russian-born, French-trained winemaker (Andre Tchelistcheff) used to complain about having to make wines other than Cabernet Sauvignon. “Why am I making starlets when I could be making stars?” Which echoes, in a way the old French proverb: “The first duty of a wine is to be red!”
Still, there are a few whites that ought to be glanced at (and tasted). A couple of charmers in the Maestro Series (honoring Tchelistcheff, available at the tasting room and through the winery club) are the Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2006 ($20), with its austere, flinty grapefruit, and the Mendocino Riesling 2006 ($18), notable for its subtle apricot and honeysuckle fruit. Either would be fine with chicken or seafood.
There are three Maestro reds that currently invite your attention. The 2004 Rutherford Merlot ($32) has all that typical Rutherford green olive fruit, with tantalizing hints of menthol, dill and licorice. The 2005 Petite Sirah ($32) is chuck full of cranberry and strawberry fruit, and it the perfect fireside wine, with a hefty slab of sharp cheddar. And the Tempranillo 2005 ($25) is a real find, with all that fluid, juicy sweet plum, grenadine and pomegranate fruit, neatly spiced with hints of peppercorn. A fine picnic wine.
Some of the other (non-Maestro) reds are pretty good, too. Let us begin with Dulcet, an intriguing blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (76 percent in this vintage) and Syrah (the other 24 percent). From the 2003 vintage ($40), the wine shows some Cabernet with blackberry fruit, but there is an equal, perhaps even greater influence from the Syrah. You can see that variety clearly in the warm chocolate essence, framed with strawberry and plum fruitiness. There in a nice dusting of graham oak that serves to properly push the fruit forward without being invasive on its own account. “This gives you a different, Aussie-like look at Napa Valley, only a little more approachable,” says Aiken. “The Syrah comes mostly from our Carneros plantings, and has a very nice structure.”
Tapestry is a Bordeaux blend red that has been around for more than a decade by my count [“Since 1990,” says Aiken]. The 2003 Napa Valley ($50) is a bit closed in the nose yet, but opens up nicely on the palate, featuring dusty green olive, an herbal-hinting eucalyptus, and more dusty cigar box notes in the finish. This one needs a bit more time in bottle, I think, before it ultimately opens up and gives up its character more generously.
The classic red at Beaulieu is, of course, “The Georges.” Full title: Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 Napa Valley ($95). This vintage shows off its Rutherford essence with a bright green olive and menthol core, amended with blackberry and black currant fruit that is sizeable but balanced. This is a wine for putting away for a year or three (or more). All the elements are there to suggest that this one, like its predecessors, will live a long and glorious life. More good news: There are 14,000 cases of this wine. You can find it. (For the longest time, this wine was aged solely in American oak barrels, but a little research discovered that Tchelistcheff had originally used French oak. Today, the wine gets the benefit of both – for 20 months – leaning toward the French oak, which comprises 60 percent of the mix.)
“This wine showcases our best Cabernet Sauvignon fruit, period,” says Aiken. “Most of the fruit comes from our original Rutherford properties, and is now enhanced by some of the clones with stronger flavors, like clone 4, clone 6 and clone 337. One key is that the soils are heavily-graveled loams that drain exceedingly well.”
Beaulieu Vineyard is located at 1960 Highway 29 in Rutherford. Phone (707) 967-5230 for further information, or try www.bvwines.com online. The tasting room is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and there is a fee.
[Hinkle is the author of eight wine books, is working on two others, and is presently trying to find an agent for his first novel. He also does a wide variety of business writing. His web site is www.richardpaulhinkle.com.]
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