MacDonald Vineyards To-Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

There is a Native American phrase —Tu-la-halusi— meaning “beautiful land,” used to describe the upper Napa Valley and repeated by early settlers. MACDONALD’s story begins with the history of their property, whose first wines were branded TO-KALON, meaning “the most beautiful.” The property was originally planted to vines in the early 1870’s by the grandson of Napa Valley pioneer George Yount. The Yount Family retained this as one of the final pieces of their Caymus Rancho, which originally had encompassed 12,000 acres in the heart of the Napa Valley.

In the pioneer days of Napa Valley winemaking, the famed TO-KALON wines, made from grapes sourced in part from MACDONALD’s property, are thought to have garnered more awards than any other winery in the pre-Prohibition era. By the turn of the century the advent of phylloxera had decimated the original vineyards and the vines were removed and replanted to cherries. The expanding orchard and the surrounding acres would eventually become one of the largest cherry plantations in the United States.

In 1954, the MacDonald family planted the first vines on the property since prohibition as the last of the cherry trees were being removed. For 60 years the grapes have been sold exclusively to Robert Mondavi and have been part of his Reserve and To-Kalon blends since their inception. Robert Mondavi used to refer to the family as “the best grape-growers in the Napa Valley” and, when he and MacDonald's Great Uncle resurrected the property’s historic name, the family was included as the only private growers to be part of the Robert Mondavi To-Kalon Vineyard.

In 2010, for the first time in the family’s 60 year stewardship, and in over 140 years of grape-growing history on the property, brothers Alex and Graeme MacDonald were proud to present the first release of MACDONALD.