B.V. GEORGES DE LATOUR CABERNET SAUV 2020 750ML

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.

The flagship wine of Beaulieu Vineyard in 2020, the grapes for this cuvee were harvested nearly a full month earlier than the previous vintage, which makes sense given the warm, hot growing season. Nevertheless, it's a classic, tightly knit, broad-shouldered, detail-driven Cabernet offering up expressive red berry fruit, forest floor, graphite, and cedar on the nose. Full-bodied with long beams of sappy angular tannins that will thread together with time in the bottle. One of the more savoury expressions of BV in some years, revealing pops of liquorice, black olive, cast iron and pulverised minerals through a long finish. Comprised of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Petit Verdot. 24 months in 95% new French oak.

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. Drink or hold.

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.

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.

The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour is a pretty wild, exotic wine with loads of super-ripe dark cherry, plum, new leather, licorice, chocolate and sweet spice. This is an especially forward, ripe vintage for the Georges de Latour. I don't see the complexity or nuance of the very best years, but that was simply not possible in 2020. Winemaker Trevor Durling opted for a reduction of fermentation in barrel and an increase of Petit Verdot in the blend. The lighter structure of the year is impossible to miss. All things considered, though, the 2020 is another fine 2020 from BV.