1994 Château Beaumont

Château Beaumont is a Cru Bourgeois estate in Haut-Medoc. The 279-acre estate traces its history to the 18th century when it was owned by the Duke of Duras, an aristocrat and politician. The estate changed hands several times over the following centuries and is today owned by Grands Millesimes de France, a subsidiary of three international insurance companies. Vineyards are planted to 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. About 500,000 bottles are made annually. The second wine is Château d’Arvigny. Robert M. Parker Jr. has written that since the insurance subsidiary bought the estate in 1986, “the progression in quality has been significant, and this is now one of the more interesting, best made, and reasonably priced Crus Bourgeois in the Medoc.”

Bordeaux is the world’s most famous fine-wine producing region. Even non-wine drinkers recognize the names of Bordeaux’s celebrated wines, such as Margaux and Lafite-Rothschild. Located near the Atlantic coast in southwest France, the region takes its name from the seaport city of Bordeaux, a wine trading center with an outstanding site on the Garonne River and easy access to the Atlantic. Like most French wine regions, Bordeaux’s first vineyards were planted by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago, then tended by medieval monks. Aristocrats and nobility later owned the region’s best estates and today estates are owned by everyone from non-French business conglomerates to families who have been proprietors for generations. Bordeaux has nearly 280,000 acres of vineyards, 57 appellations and 10,000 wine-producing châteaux. Bordeaux is bifurcated by the Gironde Estuary into so-called “right bank” and “left bank” appellations. Bordeaux’s red wines are blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. It also makes white wines of Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. There are several classification systems in Bordeaux. All are attempts to rank the estates based on the historic quality of the wines.