Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard ratchets up the intensity, and this beauty just about jumps out of the glass with its incredible bouquet of cr me de cassis, flowery incense, exotic spices, smoked tobacco, and loamy earth. It's full-bodied, incredibly concentrated, and opulent, yet still just dances across the palate with no sensation of weight or heaviness. A lesson in true greatness in wine, this pure, seamless, flawlessly balanced 2021 will blow you away any time over the coming 20-25 years.
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James Suckling
A very solid and intense wine with polished and integrated tannins that give tension and length. It’s full-bodied and reserved, suggesting greatness and excellent length. Goes on for minutes. Juicy and gorgeous. Tight at the end. Try this from 2027, but it’s already drinkable.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Sourced from a single block and 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard is impressively complex and savory on the nose, with aromas reminiscent of black cherries, mint, loamy earth, vanilla and black olives. Full-bodied and plush, this richly textural wine delivers balanced concentration and a long, velvety finish. Complex, harmonious and elegant, it's a beauty. Reading over my notes and recalling the wine, I wonder if I may have underrated it.
Rating: 97+ -
Wine Spectator
This rich, pure and polished version offers a deep well of cassis, blackberry puree and fig paste flavors inlaid with flashes of warm earth, walnut husk, alder and dark tobacco. Broad, deep and long, this is very Oakville in feel. Best from 2026 through 2042.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Home to some of the most sought-after Cabernet Sauvignon in America, Napa Valley’s Oakville district stretches across the center of Napa's valley floor and foothills between the Vaca and Mayacamas Mountains. This AVA is home to the legendary To Kalon Vineyard and Martha's Vineyard, as well as many powerhouse wineries including Screaming Eagle, Silver Oak, Robert Mondavi, Opus One, Far Niente and Groth.
The climate is generally warm and agreeable, resulting in year after year of favorable vintages. Summer days see a gentle tug of war between warmer inland air and the cool air coming in from the San Pablo Bay, creating an ideal environment to grow red varieties. Oakville's diverse soils, namely ancient sea bedrock, clay and gravel, are well-drained, and perfect for high-caliber viticulture.
Cabernet here is often bottled varietally but is also popular in Bordeaux Blends. Oakville wines are known for their silky, sensual textures, structured tannins, dark and brooding fruit and lovely aromatics. These age-worthy and prestigious wines are favored by collectors throughout the world.