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National Geographic : 1979 May
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Dark, luscious clusters of Cabernet Sauvignon-Napa's great red hope-bow before the sun in the Chateau Chevalier vineyard (above). Experts gloat when ex tolling the Cabernet, perhaps the valley's noblest European transplant. To Russian-born Andre Tchelistcheff (right), the Cabernet has demonstrated an elegant adaptability that promises ever greater triumphs in California soil. Here Tchelistcheff presses his experienced 77 year-old nose to the task of sniffing out the differences between two Rieslings. The bouquet of a superior Riesling, says he, evokes a melding of fresh fruit, dried ap ples, and a pungent hint of kerosene. Tche listcheff was doing research at France's National Institute of Agronomy vineyard in Paris when French-born Georges de La tour lured him to Napa Valley in 1938 and made him wine master at Latour's presti gious Beaulieu Vineyard in Rutherford. With him, Tchelistcheff brought a Slavic moodiness ("I never taste wine when I'm depressed; I wait") and a Latin anthropo morphism (A great wine is, naturally, "a ravishing woman"). Most important, he brought a Gallic preciseness to his art. During his 35 years at Beaulieu and through the research company he founded, Tchelistcheff has influenced a generation of Napa wine makers. Shades of Europe's aristocracy live on as Latour's daughter, the Marquise de Pins (right), receives a fruit-and-champagne drink from Robert Boutonnet on her ve randa. Although the winery itself was sold to Heublein, Inc. in 1969, the Marquise maintains her home in Rutherford. NationalGeographic, May 1979 696
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