Winemaker Notes
Schrader Colesworthy represents Shrader's finest, most compelling barrels of the vintage from the Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard. This wine delivers an intensely pleasurable, plush mouthfeel with soft, supple tannins that weave through the substantial fruit core, culminating in a long and vibrant finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard Colesworthy is cut from the same cloth, yet has a touch more punch and intensity, with brilliant cassis fruit as well as notes of graphite, crushed stone, spring flowers, and savory herbs. The purity of fruit is truly something, and this full-bodied beauty brings good acidity, ripe tannins, and a great, great finish. It's an incredible wine.
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James Suckling
Deep, yet perfumed on the nose, with a fine touch of lard, graphite and lavender that follows through to a full-bodied palate with a tart black-cherry quality to the mid-palate. Immaculate tannins here and extremely long.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard Colesworthy is a barrel selection. All Clone 337, all new French oak, all Thomas Rivers Brown, it's a full-bodied, concentrated effort, loaded with intense black cherries and cassis and with a subtle touch of cigar wrapper for savory complexity. It's tannic, but those tannins are ripe and silky-dusty in texture, lingering for what seems like minutes on the long, mouthwatering finish.
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Decanter
Carol Schrader's maiden name adorns this block and barrel selection. Full, round and richly layered with dark black fruits, dried herbs, roasted almonds and cured meat, inching into a spearmint note and unspooling with a sanguine mineral quality. There's plenty of tension and energy and the finish is long and lingering.
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Wine Spectator
Delivers inviting warm cassis and crushed plum notes, while subtle lilac and violet accents flitter in the background. Shows subtle alder smoke, savory and mineral accents that enhance the fruit through the lengthy finish. A confidently suave Cabernet. Best from 2023 through 2037.
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.