Winemaker Notes
The goal for this namesake wine is working with To Kalon Vineyard as a whole, crafting a wine from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, while capturing the purity, intensity, and diversity of this special terroir. The 2021 Highest Beauty has soft tannins, plenty of structure, richness, and aromatic excitement. The grapes were harvested at night to preserve the freshness of the fruit. Careful sorting and a long, slow fermentation and maceration round out the wine and bring forward the broad spectrum of flavors and aromas inherent in this noble variety.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
An intense wine from a super-concentrated vintage, this is totally loaded with ripe fruits, spicy oak and generous savory, minty flavors, wrapped in firm, fine-grained tannins. Black olives, black currants, earthy and sage-like notes. So dark, deep and age-worthy, with great balance for a wine so full-bodied.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Highest Beauty is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a selection of the best barrels, mostly from blocks in the back of the vineyard near the Monastery block, not far from MacDonald and Detert. Crème de cassis, darker currants, spicy wood, and chocolate are just some of the nuances here, and it's full-bodied, with a deep, layered, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, velvety tannins, and a great finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
There are 700 cases of the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Highest Beauty, an expression of several blocks of pure Cabernet Sauvignon. Gentle thyme shadings accent black cherries and loamy earth in this rich, full-bodied wine. Coming dangerously close to being over the top, it's ripe and hedonistic, while at the same time developing classic To Kalon notes of baking spices and fine suede on the long, elegant finish.
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Wine Spectator
A richly fruited version, offering boysenberry, black currant and blackberry puree notes that stream through, yet this stays reserved in style, with a remarkable sense of polish. Loam, licorice root and singed alder elements emerge steadily through the long finish. A lovely late twang of iron adds to the range. Drink now through 2044.
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.