Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesBarrel Sample: 97-99
Lots of blackberry, white pepper and other spices. Ink, too. Medium to full body with firm, silky tannins that run the length of the wine. Very al-dente fruit character. Flavorful and vivid. Extremely long. So drinkable. Gorgeous. Crazy.
Another spicy, complex, gorgeous wine in every sense, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Schrader reminds me of the CCS with its pure, seamless, perfectly balanced style. Lots of cassis fruits, notes of flowery incense, baking spices, leather, and unsmoked tobacco, silky tannins, remarkable purity, and a great finish all define this beauty, and it's certainly up with the crème de la crème of this great vintage.
This has all the dense cassis, bitter plum and blackberry fruit you'd expect from an Oakville Cabernet, but these elements are married to a more overt energy than most of its peers, as bramble, anise and licorice root provide a bristling accent. Offers a great graphite underpinning through the finish, and has fruit to burn. One for the cellar. Best from 2024
Fred Schrader founded Schrader Cellars in 1998 with a goal of making the best Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon possible. Since then, the brand has gained renown for incredible vineyard sourcing and remarkably gifted winemaker, Thomas Brown. Since its inception, Schrader has achieved a total of twenty-seven 100-point scores from the likes of The Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator, Jeb Dunnuck, and James Suckling.
For more than a decade Schrader Cellars has produced benchmark Cabernet Sauvignon from the most prestigious vineyards in the Napa Valley — notably the first-growth Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville, along with Beckstoffer Georges III Vineyard in Rutherford, Beckstoffer Las Piedras in Northwest St. Helena, and newly the Monastery Block To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville. Thomas Brown, a South Carolina native, didn’t grow up in the wine business, but after extensively exploring the wine regions of France, Italy, and Northern California, he knew where he belonged. In 1996, Thomas moved to Napa Valley and began working in a wine shop. Wanting to cut his teeth in winemaking, he began working in acclaimed cellars with industry legends. In 2000, destiny circled around and Thomas met Fred Schrader at the same fine wine shop. Although Thomas had yet to make a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, Fred recognized his unwavering passion, fantastic natural ability, and dedication to winemaking, and hired him to do just that for his namesake brand, Schrader. Since then, the duo has developed a portfolio of benchmark Cabernet Sauvignons renowned for their “no holds barred” character. Thomas has achieved unprecedented success in record time and has revealed himself to be a true visionary of wine.