N.V BV Burgundy...weird response from BV to my question...

I have a bottle of NV Beaulieu Vineyard Burgundy Georges de Latour Signature Wines that can be seen here:

NV Beaulieu Vineyard Burgundy, USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford - CellarTracker, and the other day, I emailed BV to see if they could give me a little more info about the bottle. This is the response I got back:

"Hello Brian,

What exactly did you want to know about the bottle? I’m not sure I can tell you everything you need to know but I can say that it was bottled before we started putting the vintage on the label so it is very old and probably no longer drinkable.

Regards,

"



So…this bottle is older than 1936(the first vintage GdL)?? I just thought that was a weird response for one, not really knowing what NV is, and two, saying the wine is probably no longer drinkable because it’s very old!

Paging frank tota!!!

Fill level doesn’t look too bad, but I can’t imagine an NV this old wouldn’t be way over the hill.

edit: keep reading…I obviously don’t know what I’m talking about.

Two things:

1. He meant before they started vintage dating the Burgundy labeled wine. Not sure when that happened - maybe 68
2. I’m betting its early/mid 60s and there is a pretty decent chance it is alive.

I have no idea the composition but later versions included Petite Sirah IIRC

Oh and I found something from about 5 years ago from a tasting of old CA wine:

1970 BV Burgundy Pure Altar Wine. (Really, altar wine.) This was sent by Dick Petersen, BVs winemaker after Andre Tchelistcheff. Dick made the wine though I doubt he blessed it. Dick got sick and couldn’t make the tasting (I was so looking forward to picking Dick up at his hotel and talking to him). The wine was made from mostly Napa Gamay and Mondeuse with about 10% Pinot grown at BV Ranches 2 & 3 with some from the Silverado area. Most of the acreage has since been sold to Andy Beckstoffer who ripped up the vines. Can’t imagine why. Alive and 85 pts but 95 just for being alive and interesting

I was told that the Altar wine was the same as the one labeled just Burgundy. So maybe Napa Gamay, Mondeuse and Pinot. Killer combination.

Thanks, Charlie! I’d hate to miss this thread.

Chris is more knowledgeable than me, I expect, as these older bottlings confuse me. The oldest BV “Burgundy” I have in my cellar is 1968 (some labeled “Burgundy” and some “Special Burgundy”). There may be older ones, but I haven’t come across them myself.

Often I hear people talking about 1940s BV “Burgundy,” but I think they might mean the “Pinot Noir.” I opened the '46, '47 and if memory serves '45 Pinot Noir bottlings…two bottles were amazing, two very good, and two disappointing. I believe there are some earlier Pinot Noir bottles (early 40s) but haven’t come across those either.

I guess that’s a long way of saying I don’t really know. My best guess would be mid-60s. And I like Chris’ guesses on the possible grapes…I wish more winemakers still experimented with blends like that today.

With that fill, it should be fun to find out! I’ve tried most of the BV Pinot bottlings from the 60s, and some were surprisingly pleasant even in off/non-heralded vintages.

Cheers and good luck!

• Frank

so Buzz, when are we drinking this?

When ever you want!

We are drinking this tomorrow night! We’ll see…

Btw, this bottle was acquired from Barney Rhodes(Heitz) cellar…so provenance should be fantastic!

I’m betting it will be quite drinkable.

Nice! Love taking fliers on old CA burgundy like this!

Had a old NV Sebastiani Burgundy not long ago that was awesome. Can’t wait to hear about this one Buzz - keeping my fingers crossed for you man!

I can’t wait to try this along with the Joseph Phelps heinemann mountain pinot

Niiiiice!!! 02/08 Marcassin Marcassin Chards for dessert! Can’t wait!

I told chef that we will lift one of the goodies from the cellar if they give us the tuesday price

TUESDAY PRICe IS THE BEST PRICE!!!

I remember referring to the BV Beautour with someone from the winery in the early 2000s and they’d never heard of it, even though that label/bottling had only ceased a few years earlier. She plainly had no knowledge of the winery’s even recent history. So I’m not surprised at the response you got. It’s just a business now.

I had a similar experience with Beaulieu when I requested information on the Georges III vineyard - not even the courtesy of a reply.

I am legit excited for you to try this and I can’t wait to hear about it!

Beaulieu has long been terrible with customer contact experience.
Around 2000, when TCA problems were apparent at its winery, I asked a representative of
its parent company about what it might do, when customers find that bottlings, such as
Georges de Latour Private Reserve, are often tainted. She did not dispute the TCA taint,
but blew off the topic, saying that most customers would be too ignorant to notice or care.

Only Sterling is better at brand suicide.