Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Realm Cellars Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Cabernet Sauvignon displays blue fruit notes, as well as graphite and mineral character. Electric intensity rides throughout the fresh palate of this complete wine with multiple layers.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr Crane Vineyard displays an opaque purple-black color. It saunters confidently out of the glass with compelling notes of warm black plums, blackcurrant cordial, Morello cherries and black raspberries followed by an opulent perfume of exotic spices, dusty soil, rose oil and crushed rocks with a waft of sandalwood. Full-bodied, rich, seductive and so, so spicy, the palate possesses a multitude of savory, earth and preserved fruit layers, framed by an achingly beautiful velvety texture and seamless freshness, finishing long, long, long—truly showing off its latent power. Like a gorgeous intellectual, this is a wine that will absolutely turn heads and create a stir.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Beckstoffer Dr. Crane is gorgeous, offering classic 2018 purity in its blue fruits, cassis, chocolate, tobacco, cold fireplace, and loamy earth-like aromas and flavors. With full-bodied richness and depth, it has flawless balance, lots of building tannins, and a powerful, backward style that's going to benefit from bottle age. It doesn’t have that “je ne sais quoi” quality of the 2015 yet shares similarities with the 2016 given its purity and structure. Hide bottles for 4-5 years and enjoy over the following 25+.
Rating: 98+
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.
St. Helena is in the heart of the Napa Valley, nestled between Calistoga to the north and Rutherford on its southern border. On its western side, the Mayacamas Mountains guard it from the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean; to its east stand the Vaca Mountains. In conjunction, these mountain ranges serve to lock in summer daytime heat. But in the evening, cool air from the San Pablo Bay funnels up through the valley, creating very chilly nights. It isn’t uncommon for temperatures to drop 50 degrees, a shift that promotes a balance of sugar ripeness and acidity in wine grapes.
St. Helena contains a plethora of different soil types in a small area, which have been enhanced over centuries by rain runoff from both mountain ranges. Its vineyards cover a variety of terrain, spreading across the bucolic valley floor and its benchlands.
These ideal topographic and climatic growing conditions easily caught the attention of early winemaking pioneers. In fact, St. Helena is the birthplace of Napa Valley’s commercial wine industry. Dr. Crane founded his cellar in 1859, David Fulton in 1860 and Charles Krug in 1861.
Today there are no less than 400 separate vineyards planted within the 12,000 acres that make up the St. Helena appellation.
Revered most for its red wines based on Bordeaux varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, the St. Helena appellation is also a source of superior Syrah, Zinfandel and Sauvignon blanc.