Napa Valley winery founded in 1900 opens a grand hospitality space.
Score one for the team at Signum Architecture for skillfully converting 19th-century stone buildings at Beaulieu Vineyard into a grand hospitality center. The space pays tribute to BV’s heritage and showcases the Rutherford winery’s refined portfolio in fitting style.
Genteel Experience
In August 2026, website photographer William Wong and I enjoyed the genteel Heritage Experience, four reds paired with small bites served on a triple-tiered tea tray. Georges and Fernande de Latour founded Beaulieu in 1900; the tray and bites pay homage to Fernande’s hospitality.
Sky Revealed
I admired the architects all the more while recalling a visit a dozen years ago, when the area was lined with old redwood tanks. The designers removed this section’s second floor, revealing the sky, using the tanks’ staves to fashion the angular ceiling. Separated from the main room by a glass wall, an open-air courtyard gleamed in the afternoon sun.
Reserve Pinot Noir
The bites aren’t meant as formal pairings, though the first wine, the 2023 Reserve Pinot Noir, went nicely with the deviled eggs, their whites dyed purple with Pinot for effect.
Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2022 Reserve Cabernet Franc and 2022 Reserve Ranch 2 Cabernet Sauvignon also impressed, the former for its supple tannins and captivating flavors, the latter for its chocolaty hints of what longtime Beaulieu winemaker André Tchelistcheff dubbed Rutherford dust.
Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet
Beaulieu’s lead winemaker from the late 1930s to the early 1970s, Tchelistcheff crafted the Heritage Experience’s final wine, the luxuriant 2022 Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2023, which debuts in September 2026, is reportedly even better, but the 2022 is no slouch.
Port in a Teacup
Port fan William loved the bonus pour, the 2015 Napa Valley Port (Petite Sirah, Touriga Nacional, Charbono, and Tempranillo). Served in a porcelain teacup as a decorous nod to Fernande, it’s also a throwback to surreptitious sipping during Prohibition, when Beaulieu survived by supplying sacramental wines to the Catholic Church.
Georges’s 1925 Cadillac V-63, on display near the entrance, is another artifact of those glory days.
Why go: grand hospitality space; rich history; high-scoring Bordeaux-style reds.
Info
1960 St. Helena Hwy., Rutherford 94573
More Rutherford Wineries
Pestoni Family Estate Winery
Piña Napa Valley
St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery
Sequoia Grove Winery
Sullivan Rutherford Estate