Winemaker Notes
From the very front of the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, this block produced exceptional wines in 2014 due to exceptional farming, perfectly balanced cropping and significant hang time. Year after year, these older clone 4 vines offer our most upfront, instantly appealing, stunningly rich and massive wine from this vineyard. Blackberry fruits, licorice, and background spices mingle to create a lavish multi-layered wine, offering an enormous mid-palate buttressed perfectly by the wine's natural acidity. This wine offers a unique amount of ripeness and texture along with generous sweet tannins which leaves an indelible impression on ones sense.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer to Kalon The Grand Daddy is a 202-case cuvée from a block in the Beckstoffer Vineyard that is the last that Carter harvests. Black fruits galore, including blackberry, cassis, blueberry, a full-bodied nose with charcoal embers, camphor and subtle smoke, are followed by a gorgeously proportioned full-bodied wine with fabulous purity and flawless integration of acidity, wood and tannin. Drink it over the next 20+ years.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.