Wine reviews
From a famous valley floor site that’s always one of the first to ripen, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon GIII Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard (100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 90% new French oak) offers incredible purity and finesse as well as a kaleidoscope of crème de cassis, exotic flowers, graphite, and forest floor. It’s deep, has building, sweet tannins, no hard edges, and again, this fabulous purity and floral character that develops with time in the glass. It will benefit from short-term cellaring and should evolve for three decades. My money is on it being the finest version of this cuvée ever made. – JD
From a site in Rutherford, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard is a huge, full-bodied, monster of a Cabernet Sauvignon that has ton of fruit, as well as tons of structure and tannin. Offering lots of blue fruits, graphite, and minerality, I suspect the tannin will integrated nicely by the time this is bottled, but it’s going to benefit from 4-5 years of cellaring nonetheless. It certainly has incredible potential. – JD From a famous valley floor site that’s always one of the first to ripen, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon GIII Beckstoffer
Densely packed, with red and black currant, açaí berry and plum paste flavors, lined with singed alder, tobacco, leather and warm earth notes. The finish features a deep well of fruit, as the earthy tug lingers. An assertive expression of Cabernet that remains grounded in terroir. Best from 2021 through 2035. – J.M.
Densely packed, with red and black currant, açaí berry and plum paste flavors, lined with singed alder, tobacco, leather and warm earth notes. The finish features a deep well of fruit, as the earthy tug lingers. An assertive expression of Cabernet that remains grounded in terroir. Best from 2021 through 2035. 429 cases made. – J.M.
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon GIII is deep garnet-purple in color with boisterous black fruits notes of crushed blackberries, warm black plums and blackcurrant cordial with touches of cedar chest, roses, tilled black soil and tar plus a waft of cloves. The palate is big, rich, full and packed with black fruit preserves and exotic spice notions with a velvety frame and a very long finish. – LPB