A Blend of Both Worlds: A French Touch in Napa
A Blend of Both Worlds: A French Touch in Napa
– and surviving prohibition at Beaulieu Vineyard.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about old world vs. new world. But what results from an old-world couple creating a new-world winery in 1900?
Georges et Fernande de Latour were in the cream of tartar business. Georges, a chemist from Southwest France living in California, would scrape potassium tartrate crystals from used wine casks to be used in baking powder.
Upon coming to a piece of land in Rutherford within Napa Valley, Fernande exclaimed: “Quel beau lieu!”- translation: What a beautiful place! Soon after, they sold their existing business and bought the four-acre Rutherford ranch. They founded Beaulieu Vineyard (BV) with the vision of surpassing the wines from their homeland France.
They began importing grafted vines from Europe and in 1909 they established a nursery in Paris. European vines grafted onto American vine roots was (and still is) the solution to the 1870s phylloxera outbreak. (Phylloxera is a louse/aphid that attacks European vines species). Hundreds of thousands of vines were brought in, shipped to fellow wine producers, and planted throughout the state. It was said in 1911 by the St. Helena Star that de Latour contributed immensely to the quality of California wine by importing healthy, high-quality vines from Europe.
Their ingenuity did not stop there. They survived the Prohibition era (1920-1933) with wise planning, becoming the first altar wine supplier for all American Catholic churches. (Wine for religious ceremonies was allowed during prohibition). To this end, these entrepreneurs opened offices in New York for the Beaulieu Vineyard Distribution Company. They produced sacramental wine from 1908 through to 1978.
Okay, when do we start talking about the wine!
I was impressed by my first Beaulieu Vineyards (BV) Napa Cab, a 2018, which ironically was in Florence, Italy during a WSET Diploma course session. Today’s featured wine is the 2019.
The Beaulieu Vineyard wine’s label states it is Cabernet Sauvignon. In the US a wine only needs to have 75% of the labelled grape variety in the wine to be labelled with that variety. The remaining 25% can be anything else.
Surprising! That can make a huge difference in the flavor. This seems misleading!
I never found the technical sheet for the 2019 but based on the 2018 and 2020 tech sheets we can assume the 2019 is 80-90% Cabernet Sauvignon.
2018 : 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, remaining %: Petite Sirah, Malbec, and Charbono
2020: 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, remaining %: Charbono, Petite Sirah, Merlot, Touriga Nacional, Petit Verdot, and Malbec.
What else should I know about US label rules?
The U.S.A. rules for alcohol by volume (abv) on labels permits an error bar of 1 to 1.5%, the former being the rule if the wine is above 14% abv (and 1.5% for lower than 14% abv.)
For example, this BV 2019 wine labelled 14.7% could be as high as 15.7% abv. It did taste a little hot (high in alcohol), which is why I preferred this wine at a cooler temperature of about 16C.
What goes on in the old country with respect to abv labelling?
The E.U. allows an error margin of 0.5% abv.
Napa Valley has many sub-regions as demonstrated on the map above. This wine’s grapes come from vineyards in Rutherford, Calistoga, and St. Helena. Through these vineyards they can select grapes with a variety of soils, microclimates, and clones providing complexity to the wine. For example, Calistoga grapes are fruit forward, while the ones from Rutherford bring earthiness that has been referred to as the ‘Rutherford dust’. Ironically, this comes full circle to today’s first paragraph. Old world founders establishing a winery in the new world!
Right! So, what is the result?
The best of both worlds!
Beaulieu Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 from Napa Valley, California, U.S.A.
Style: New World Full Body Red
Varieties: 80-90% Cabernet Sauvignon
This rich fruit-forward wine with very smooth tannins has intense flavors of ripe black cherry, blueberry, black plum and cassis, with the complexity of cedar, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, baking spice, sweet tobacco, leather, and kirsch with notes of earth.
Best pairings: BBQed Ribs, Beef Tenderloin Served on a Bun with Blue Cheese, Blackcurrant Jam and Fried Onions, Grilled Lamb Lollipops with Goat Cheese, Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Herbs and Feta Cheese, Hard & Blue Cheeses.
Serving Temperature: 16 degrees Celsius
Price: ~$43 (incl. Shades of Grape 15% discount & 5% gst)
Serving Tips: Highly recommended to have this wine chilled (aka NOT room temperature). It is not necessary to decant this wine but flavors became more complex with time. Consider decanting and pouring immediately.
I have compiled all my wine recommendations in one place. I will do my best to keep this up to date. I also include the link(s) to the article in which the wine was featured.
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SOURCES:
100 years of Quality. Available at: https://www.bvwines.com/en/100-years-of-quality-wine.html (Accessed: 11 April 2024).
The Napa Wine Project. Available at: https://www.napawineproject.com/beaulieu-vineyard/ (Accessed: 11 April 2024).
The map - Napa Valley Passport. Available at: https://napavalleypassport.com/the-map/ (Accessed: 11 April 2024).
Robinson, J. (2015) The oxford companion to wine. 4th rev. ed. Corby: Oxford University Press.
Wine & Spirit Education Trust (2021) D3: Wines of the World - An accompaniment to the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines. Version 1.2. London: Wine & Spirit Education Trust.