Winemaker Notes
A dark and seductive wine with layers of purple flowers, wild spices, incense, cedar, and black fruits on the nose. Dark berries and black currants envelop the palate with beautifully polished tannins and loads of freshness on the finish that tie this gorgeous wine all together.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
A deep red color, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard is from the Napa side in Rutherford and is spicy on the nose with wild spices, incense, cedar, cassis, menthol, and leather. Full-bodied, it’s ripe and keeps a good level of freshness, with a more compact feel, chalky tannins, a good earthy note, and hints of vanilla on the finish. Drink 2026-2046.
-
Decanter
This is a relatively new project from winemaker Jesse Katz, best known for his Alexander Valley-based winery, Aperture Cellars, and owned by father-and-son duo Marc and Jake Taub. The wine is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the renowned Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard in Rutherford, made exclusively from free-run juice and aged for 22 months in 80% new French oak barrels. Individual lots were vinified separately in concrete and stainless steel, with both warm and cool fermentations employed to create blending complexity. The result is a juicy yet finely textured wine, with exceptional dark-berry concentration, warm baking-spice notes and exquisitely fine-grained tannins. A subtle saline quality – like a sprinkling of pink Himalayan salt – adds intrigue and keeps you coming back for another sip.
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.