Beaulieu Vineyard announced today that it will create a self-contained, state-of-the-art winemaking facility dedicated solely to the production of its flagship wine, Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, one of Napa Valley’s iconic, benchmark wines.

The winery is investing nearly $7 million to create the new winemaking facility, which will be part of the existing BV winery site.

“The new Georges de Latour Private Reserve winery should allow even greater focus and attention to quality for a wine that has long set the standard for Napa Valley,” said Ray Chadwick, president of Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, BV’s parent company.

Joel Aiken, vice president of winemaking, who just celebrated his 25th year at BV, intends to focus solely on the production of Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and will oversee a production team that is dedicated to making this reserve wine.

“This is a really exciting time in the history of BV,” said Aiken. “One of the winery’s guiding principles, from founder Georges de Latour to (renowned winemaker) Andre Tchelistcheff, is to continue to innovate and look for new ways to make great wine. This investment is an important step forward and will allow us to carry on making wines of unique expression and balance.”

BV officials indicated work on the new winery project will begin immediately and will be developed within an existing building at the BV winery. The decision to create a dedicated facility came as a direct result of success with small lot experiments over the past few vintages.

“We’ve tried a number of different winemaking techniques in recent years, including barrel fermentations and long, extended macerations, and we’ve been very happy with the results,” added Aiken. “We wanted to implement those experiments on a grander scale and the dedicated winery is a way of achieving that goal.”

In addition, the BV winemaking team consulted with winemakers from throughout California and France to discuss best practice ideas. The team then designed the facility with the sole purpose of focusing on the quality of the flagship wine.

According to Aiken, the new Georges de Latour winery plans include:

• 23 state-of-the-art oak and stainless steel fermenters (5-7 tons each) set up in a symmetrical formation and equipped with cooling and heating capability.

• A special area created for barrel fermentation, where up to 40 percent of the production can be fermented in 59-gallon barrels. This aspect of the winery design includes unique barrel racks with rollers, allowing the barrels to spin in place fostering gentle cap management during fermentation.

• Temperature control throughout the entire facility, which allows for extended maceration and consistent temperatures for the barrel fermentations to produce wines of gentle extraction and finesse, with a focus on tannin management.

Plans call for the project to be completed in time for the 2008 harvest.  A private trade tasting room will follow in spring 2009.

Beaulieu Vineyard is produced by Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines (DC&E), part of Diageo, the world’s leading premium drinks business. DC&E produces and markets premium wines from around the globe including Napa Valley, Sonoma, the California Central Coast, Washington, France, New Zealand and Australia.  Brands include: Sterling Vineyards, Sterling Vintner's Collection, Chalone Vineyard, Acacia Vineyard, Edna Valley Vineyard and Provenance Vineyards as well as the French wines of Barton & Guestier. DC&E is also a leading importer of classified Bordeaux and Burgundy estate-bottled wines and Alsace’s F.E. Trimbach.