All these Beckstoffer Georges III wines. When did Beckstoffer buy the vineyard and did BV stop using it at that point or do they still get grapes from there?
Andy Beckstoffer purchased the vineyard in 1988. He snatched a couple of BV’s great vineyards along with others like Martini, ect. BV was going through a rough time as was most of Napa’s big boys. Not to vineyards being decimated by phylloxera because of the common wisdom that AXR-1 was the godsend of rootstocks. To make a long story short Andy was working for Huibien (think today’s Constellation) who owned many of the big boys at the time and was privy to what was going on in the vineyards and racked them up with the foresight to only buy the best spots with great history of being great vineyards with awesome fruit. At the same time he was buying up land in Mendocino to act as workhorses producing good, clean, and affordable fruit mostly for Napa and Sonoma wineries. In my book Andy is a pure genius and had the best vision and foresight. Just look at his vineyards now; To-Kalon, Dr. Crane, Georges III, Los Amigos, ect. and the prices he is getting for the fruit. All hats off. Also I cannot wait to see who gets the Hayne Vineyard fruit and what they do with it. I would also love to see BV buy fruit from Georges and To-Kalon and Louis Martini but Pinot from Los Amigos.