Beaulieu Vineyard Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
-
Suckling
James -
Wong
Wilfred
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 2% Malbec
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Considering this is the biggest production wine from this producer, it’s really impressive. Redcurrants, blackcurrants, spearmint, aniseed, cedar, sage and pine needles. Very refined with fresh berries, interlaced between savory notes, the layers of tannins driven along by bright acidity. Drink now or hold. Better after 2021.
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The Beaulieu Vineyard® Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the most consistent, high-quality wines from the Napa Valley. TASTING NOTES: This wine is ready-to-enjoy. Its fresh and frisky aromas and flavors of ripe fruit and an accent of oak should pair it well with stir-fried hanger steak. (Tasted: July 18, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
Other Vintages
2017-
Suckling
James -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spectator
Wine -
Dunnuck
Jeb
-
Spirits
Wine & -
Suckling
James
-
Suckling
James
-
Parker
Robert
-
Wong
Wilfred
-
Parker
Robert
-
Spectator
Wine
-
Parker
Robert
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spirits
Wine &
-
Guide
Connoisseurs'
-
Spirits
Wine &
-
Spirits
Wine &
-
Spectator
Wine
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.