Winemaker Notes
A showstopper example of Beaulieu Vineyard's western Rutherford benchland terroir. The captivating bouquet dances out of the glass pleasantly perfumed with notes of black cherry, dark plum, and wild violet. Focused, bright red berry fruits on the palate with notes of rich, dark blackcurrant, blackberry, graphite, and black licorice. Signature "Rutherford dust" tannins provide presence and grip with satisfying firmness, offering a mouth-pleasing character. A delightful fluidity is supported by a lean backbone of acidity, offering balance, tension, and finesse, all culminating in a powerful, full-bodied expression with length and persistence. This wine leaves an indelible impression epitomizing classic Rutherford nuance and elegance. Undeniably drinkable now with the potential to age exquisitely for many years to come.
Blend: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Petit Verdot, 2% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Bright and fruity with black currant, blackberry, boysenberry and black licorice notes, but not overdone. Full-bodied with tension from tannins that nicely frame the wine. Firm, bright and focused, even racy. Drinking so well now but will age beautifully.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Reserve, which functions as the second wine to the Georges de Latour Private Reserve, is classic Rutherford with its black (and some blue) fruits supported by graphite, chocolate, and gravelly earth. It's medium to full-bodied, has fine tannins, terrific balance, and the vintage's focused, precise, yet concentrated style front and center. It's a second wine but still has 15 years or more of prime drinking.
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Wine Spectator
A vibrant version, with deliciously pure cassis and plum fruit pouring through, carried by a loamy note that runs underneath. Offers lively accents of cedar and apple wood along the edges, with a twang of iron emerging on the violet-accented finish. Best from 2025 through 2040.
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Wine Enthusiast
A woodsy lift on a core of ripe black fruits gains detail with accents of graphite and espresso grounds. Savory, lightly sweet caramel and mixed spices bring additional depth. Powdery tannins and balanced acidity coat the palate, remaining approachable and age-worthy with a long finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Priced between the Napa Valley and Georges de Latour Private Reserve bottlings, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Reserve probably delivers the best bang for the buck in the BV lineup. A blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec, it offers up scents of black cherries and plums accented by hints of menthol and toasty oak (the wine spent 22 months in 80% new French oak). It's medium to full-bodied and streamlined in profile, with silky but firm tannins and a long finish.
Rating: 92+
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.