(Originally published August 2003)

We had the pleasure of participating in a vertical tasting of Beaulieu Vineyard’s Georges De Latour Cabernets at the 2003 New Orleans Wine & Food Experience. These were spectacular wines, each in its own way,

For those who do not know, Beaulieu Vineyard was founded in 1900 by Frenchman Georges de Latour. Latour formed an early relationship with the Catholic Church to provide high quality altar wine – a move that later allowed BV to continue producing wine during Prohibition while most wineries lost valuable business expansion and vineyard years.

A few years after Prohibition ended, Latour hired André Tchelistcheff, a man who was to become a legend in the California wine industry. The 1936 Cabernet Sauvignon that the two men created won the Grand Sweepstakes Award at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco and ushered in Napa Valley as a name on the world’s wine map.

After Georges de Latour died in 1940, BV was kept alive by his widow Fernande, who named the winery’s top Cabernet after her late husband. Tchelistcheff worked at BV for over three decades – into the 1970s, and many of today’s most prominent winemakers spent time in his tutelage, including BV’s current winemaker, Joel Aiken.

At the vertical tasting, we sampled vintages dating from 1973 to 1999. While we thought the 1973 and 1978 vintages tasted past their prime, the 1982 vintage was an eye-opener. It is drinking like a well-aged Bordeaux, with balanced fruit, herbs, mineral and fine tannins.

The 1986 vintage was delicious – still showing plenty of rich fruit and fresh aromas. It’s awfully tempting now, but should continue to age well for a couple of more years. For some reason, we didn’t love the 1991 vintage as much – it seemed lighter somehow… but still tasty.

By the time we got into the 1993 vintage, we were really drinking “new” wines on the Georges de Latour time scale. These last three wines all showed rich, ripe fruit and full-bodied tannins, and all need additional time in the bottle to really reach their peaks. The 1993 was delicious – we’re inclined to start pecking around at auctions for more of this stuff to cellar for five or six more years. Ditto the 1995 vintage, even with all its new French oak vanilla bouquet.

As for the 1999 vintage, BV’s current release ($100), it’s a monster – thick and deep and dark, with waves of rich, concentrated red plum, cassis, cedar, black licorice, rosemary and dark chocolate. Not surprisingly, this wine is built for aging, with full-bodied fruit and oak that need time to mellow and meld – a minimum of ten years.

For more on Beaulieu Vineyard and the Georges De Latour Cabernet, visit www.bvwines.com.