Beaulieu Vineyard - BV Georges de Latour Private Reserve 2021 (750ml)

Wine Spectator’s #2 Wine of the Year

Wine Spectator reviewed nearly 10,500 wines this year and our 2021 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon earned the #2 spot!

The Top 100 wines were chosen on the basis of outstanding quality, as judged in Wine Spectator's official blind tastings, as well as on its excellent value, and because of our winery's leading role in our region.

Watch commentary by critic and reviewer, James Molesworth, as he highlights what makes our 2021 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve No. 2 in Wine Spectator's Top 100.

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.

Scores & Accolades

98+
“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.” — JebDunnuck.com, December 2023
98
TOP 100 WINES OF THE USA 2024, ranked #55. “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.” -James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, February 2024
95
“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, November 2024

Winemaking

At our state-of-the-art winery, dedicated exclusively to the crafting of the Georges de Latour Private Reserve, a portion of the wine was fermented in new French oak barrels which provided early integration and enhanced the dense, rich texture. The balance of the must was fermented in stainless steel and concrete tanks which preserved 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 was blended with the Cabernet Sauvignon to further enhance the wine’s aroma and flavor profile. We work very closely with a limited number of select cooperages. This ensures the style and consistency of the barrels is exactly right and an appropriate match to the style and quality of the wine.

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.

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. 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. In order to ensure the highest-quality selection, the fruit was handpicked and optically sorted once it arrived at the winery.