A friend has this sitting in his cellar. Got it from his father and assumes it is vinegar and doesn’t know anything about it. I can’t seem to find anything on it. Any info out there?
I always hear how well Burgundy ages, so it should be great. 
Sounds like a typical “minefield” Burg to me.
Had a very nice btl of 1968 BV “burgundy” this weekend. Tasted like delicious Cali Cab … which was kinda weird but the wine was still tasty.
In '68 it was “Special Burgundy”. Nice wine. Wish Jason Brandt Lewis posted here. He has a great story about it.
I bought two bottles of 1969 BV “Beautour” pinot noir off winebid, to celebrate my 40th birthday in 2009. One was old but interesting, the other was great. I love trying obscure old bottles like that.
PS: Kenny, please post TN on the Stag’s Leap if you taste it!
Stags’ Leap Winery, no?
The 1973 Stags Leap Cask 23 won the “Red Wine” catagory at Judgement in Paris in 1976. Thereafter, SL garnered a faithful following and cult status. I’d really like to see your TN on this one.
Don’t know anything about this wine, but for the most part CA “Burgundy” from this era is a Zin & Carignane based field blend.
this wine isn’t from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Very confusing for sure.
At 12% no less…
From the label, this would be the CarlDoumani StagsLeap, not the WarrenWinarski StagsLeap, of Cabernet fame.
I had this wine back in its youth and it was pretty tasty. Never knew its composition, but would guess it had a fair
amount of his PetiteSirah in it. I would expect it to be surprisingly good still.
There have been a number of “Burgundy” wines from back in that era that were actually pretty good. Made by quality
producers…not by Gallo/Almaden/PaulMasson, though. The BV “Special Burgundy” was one of the best of them.
It contained a fair chunk of Charbono and aged pretty well. Back then (by crackey), Burgundy was not
the minefield it is now.
Tom
I’d love to hear that.
JBL "When Beaulieu Vineyards released their 1968 Napa Valley Burgundy, at a California Fair Trade¹ retail of $3.25 per bottle (IIRC), it was damned good! We tasted it at my uncle’s wine store (it was always very good, and sort of our store’s unofficial “house wine,” our “go to” bottle), looked at each other and said, “Wow!” Stan went straight to the phone, picked it up, called the wholesaler and ordered 25 cases.
(That may not sound like a lot, but you have to remember, this was a wine we usually ordered 5-10 cases of every week, 52 weeks a year – to order 25 in one shot was a lot.)
The next week, we ordered 100 cases more. Wine was delivered – no problem.
Two weeks later, we got a visit from a manager of the wholesale company along with a winery rep. They told us there was something wrong with BV’s 1968 Burgundy, and had come by to issue us a credit and pick up all that we had left . . .
I started to say I’ll get what we had in back, when my uncle cut me off and said, “We don’t have any left – remember that big order?” nudge, nudge, wink, wink “All we have left is what’s on the shelf.”
“Really?,” asked the wholesale rep, “You’ve bought [I don’t remember the exact number] 135-150 cases.”
“Shelf stock,” my uncle replied, and they wrote us a credit for – I don’t know – the 7 to 10 bottles there and that was that.
My uncle watched them drive away, and when he was satisfied they wre gone, told me to move all the BV Burgundy in the back room to the downstairs storage unit, and put it against the back wall.
BV 1968 Burgundy disappeared off the market for about a month. (We had close to 100 cases sitting in storage, but nothing on our shelf.)
Four or five weeks after the “recall,” Beaulieu Vineyards introduced a brand new wine – their first ever “1968 Napa Valley Special Reserve Burgundy.” California Fair Trade Retail Price: $6.50.
We tasted the two bottles side-by-side . . . same wine!
Cheers,
Jason
¹ Back then, under the Fair Trade laws of the State of California, the minimum retail price was posted with the state by the winery (or the wholesaler in the case of imported wines), and it was illegal to sell a wine below that listed price.
Originally Posted by Paul Menkes
Great story Jason. 1) Did they start offering the 1968 Burgundy label again after the recall? 2) If so any idea what was inside the bottle? 3) And,BTW, have you had any experience with the 1960 BV GDLT?
-
No, there was – in effect – no “regular” Burgundy that year; all was “Special Reserve.” This was not the case in 1973 and 1976, when there was a “regular” and a “special” bottling, Then, they stopped producing generic “Burgundy” and “Chablis.”
-
The 1968 was composed of their “regular” blend of grapes which, while the exact composition varied from year to year, generally consisted of (IIRC) Napa Gamay (now known to be Valdigué), Mondeuse, Petite Sirah, maybe some Zinfandel, a little Pinot Noir and usually 1% of Early Burgundy.
-
I haven’t had the 1960 Beaulieu Geaorge de Latour Private Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet in – God, I don’t know how long it’s been! I probably can find some info, and maybe a TN, when I’m back at home."
Tom; Glad you clarified that winery point as I was about to post something similar. Doumani’s Stagss Leap was/is known for petite sirah and I wouldn’t be surprised if this “burgundy” had a nice bit of that grape in the mix.
Cheers! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Marshall
Fixed. I didn’t know anything about 2 Stag’s Leap winerys so this was confusing.
Isn’t this what the “battle of the apostrophes” was all about? Stag’s Leap vs. Stags’ Leap vs Stags Leap…
I remember selling this wine back in the day - the '74 was delicious - and I think you are right Marshall, if I remember right - it was a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and whatever else Carl had hanging around - it was always a great value - and this could be quite the surprise to taste - would love to hear how it is…