Winemaker Notes
This vintage is a powerhouse example of Beaulieu Vineyard's flagship wine, with an intense and fragrant bouquet of ripe, dark berries, grape compote, black cherry, orange peel, and black plum, alongside savory, perfumed notes of wild violet, rose petal, fresh spearmint, bay laurel, and earth. Warm baking spice notes from the French oak barrel influence add vanilla, caramel, and allspice. Saturated dark fruit is present and voluminous throughout the palate, exhibiting mouth-coating structure with density and enveloping richness. Full-bodied and multilayered, secondary notes of bittersweet dark chocolate, umami, leather, tobacco leaf, and graphite add additional nuance and complexity. The signature "Rutherford Dust" tannins are pronounced, framing the wine and presenting a firm grip with chewy, cocoa-powder texture. The mouthwatering palate is lively and fresh with balanced acidity, demonstrating length and a lovely generosity. Incredibly pleasing upon release, yet certain to age for many years to come.
Blend: 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Fascinating, fresh and ripe fruit flavors fill this full-bodied, velvety-textured wine with blackberries, raspberries and cranberries. Subtle oak spices add interest from the aroma through the finish. Decant this time-tested wine if drinking soon.
Cellar Selection -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Deep garnet in color, the 2020 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve is one of the estate’s most compelling efforts since the wine’s inception in 1936. This wine delivers a luxurious and memorable experience, opening with aromas of ripe blackberries, sun-dried linens, and a finely integrated touch of oak. On the palate, it is richly textured and satisfying—an ideal match for a dry-aged Wagyu ribeye, pan-seared and finished with black truffle butter. (Tasted: July 21, 2025, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
A very fine and polished BV private reserve that shows focus, tension and subtle complexity with lead pencil, fresh sage and dried herb undertones. Medium body, fine tannins and a pretty finish. Very refined.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The star of the show from this team in 2020 is the 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Georges De Latour Private Reserve, a deep purple-hued Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 24 months in French oak (95% new). It has terrific aromatics of blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, graphite, and spice, and these carry over to the palate, where the wine is medium to full-bodied, has solid tannins, good mid-palate depth, and outstanding length. There are some firmer, chalky tannins here, but this is beautifully done and should have two decades of longevity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
While some wineries opted to skip the 2020 vintage, BV has bottled a seemingly excellent 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve Georges de Latour. It features black cherries, cassis and toasty oak on the nose, while its medium to full-bodied palate is a bit coarse and open-knit, but it shows no overt evidence of smoke taint to this taster, as the wine finishes long and velvety.
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Wine Spectator
A ripe, poised wine, with a core of warmed cassis and plum reduction notes, gilded with a hint of violet and underscored by a warm loamy edge. Offers a solid frame, thanks to generous toast, with apple wood and alder hints hanging through the finish as the dark, fleshy fruit slowly unwinds. Solid.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.