2006-06-19
by Richard Paul Hinkle
Now that the legacy of Beaulieu (“beautiful place”) Vineyard is into its second century, the winery is in the enviable position of having, as its winemaker, a soft-spoken fellow who is every bit as grounded as the winery he has worked at for nearly a quarter of a century.
“Yeah,” he says modestly, “I started here as an assistant winemaker in 1983 … while I was still working on my Master’s [which he earned the following year] at UC Davis.” What he won’t tell you is that, at the very tender age of 28 (quite young for a winemaker) he was appointed head winemaker at BV. This was in 1985, only two years after he had started. (Remember, this is at the winery where Andre Tchelistcheff once toiled for but a decade short of a half century. Tchelistcheff was the man who gave Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon to the world in the form of the justly-famed Georges de Latour Reserve Cabernet and literally, alongside Robert Mondavi, put Napa Valley on the world’s vinous map. Remember, too, that winery founder Georges de Latour, the Cadillac-born Frenchman, was the one who made the terse assessment that, “There are three ways of going broke: Fast women, slow horses, or owning a winery!”)
When I was a young man, and having only just entered the wine business working in a San Francisco retail wine shop, I bought my first full case of wine ever – at Beaulieu. It was the 1968 BV “George,” the wine that Andre considered the finest Cabernet he made in his 40 years. I actually bought two cases, thinking that the wine would eventually double in value and I could sell the second to pay for the first. Indeed, only months after I bought those two cases, the price escalated from $5.25 per bottle to $5.85. Hot dog! I thought, my strategy is going to work. Which was fine until I began to open a bottle or two. Even then, I could tell that it was something special, with the essential green olive character that so distinguishes Rutherford benchland Cabernets. (That the wine came to be so valued in our household is evidenced by the fact that of the 24 bottles I bought only one was ever opened outside of our dining room, that a gift to a winemaker friend on his wedding.)
Taste, then, the 2003 Beaulieu Rutherford Cabernet ($25), with its dusty green olive and clear and bright blackberry fruit, framed nicely by just a hint of graham-like oak. “Rutherford is a special place for Cabernet Sauvignon,” says Aiken. “We do the ‘George’ solely from the two vineyards at the winery – BV Number One and BV Number Two – which is the very best Rutherford fruit we have access to. But our Rutherford Cabernet also has those two gravelly benchland vineyards as its heart, along with about half of the blend from BV Number Ten, east of the winery and closer to the river.
“We want the Rutherford Cab to be a little more accessible than the George, we want it to be drinkable a little sooner, so it gets a little less time in oak and bottle before it is released. That said, it still has twenty months in oak – about half and half American and French – and it has just a little Petit Verdot and Merlot to add a little complexity. To me, the 2003 that you’re talking about showcases the complex, minerally, black cherry-anise and dried herb aromas that are typical of Rutherford Cabernet.” The real good news is that there are 60,000 cases out there, so it’s available.
Which means that it will only seem slight when tasted next to the 2002 “George” ($95), whose fruit profile is centered on the concentrated, dense, dusty green olive and black current qualities that have identified Rutherford bench Cabernets for more than a half century.
Do not overlook the “mere” Napa Valley Cabernet 2003 ($18), with its mineral-driven tobacco, black currant and soy fruit character, just right for pretty much any meat dish you might have in mind. Your mom’s best meat loaf would be a prime candidate.
The folks at Beaulieu’s lauded hospitality center are justly proud of the newly-opened, wood-paneled Reserve Tasting Room, – often described as “the classiest tasting room in the valley” – where five older red vintages and Reserve reds are offered to the public for a $25 tasting fee. “We were able to retain the original stone walls of the old room,” notes Visitor Center Manager Sharon Schaubach. “The new room showcases our award-winning wines in a beautiful and consumer-friendly atmosphere that emphasizes the elements that have made BV wines among the most collected California Cabernets since the early 1900s. We have a continuous-loop DVD presentation of Beaulieu’s history and how our wines are produced. It’s a seven-minute presentation that is usually run with the sound down, but if visitors wish to hear the audio they need only ask.”
Schaubach notes that the winery is not currently offering public tours (extensive construction, not to mention liability issues), but that the historic octagonal tasting room is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There, five or six of the appellation wines and the “Maestro” wines are available for tasting.
Beaulieu Vineyard is located at 1960 St. Helena Highway (Highway 29) in Rutherford. Phone (707) 967-5233 for further information, or check ’em out on the web at www.bvwines.com.
[You can check out Hinkle’s eclectic output at his brand new website, www.RichardPaulHinkle.com.]
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