Winemaker Notes
The 2021 Pure Magic is again a co-fermentation, this vintage being Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The profile is an outlier amongst the vintage, with an exuberance, overt flesh and showiness that separates it from the herd. The blue and black fruit emanate from the glass, with bountiful blackberries, black tea, blueberries, and baking spices, leading to a tremendously long, silky finish. A true magic trick.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Pure Magic is mostly co-ferments of Cabernet Sauvignon yet includes a solid splash of Cabernet Franc. It's a brilliant, inky-hued effort offering tons of minerality as well as full-bodied richness, ripe, building tannins, remarkable purity, and classic, unevolved aromatics of cassis, graphite, and crushed stone. It has loads of glycerin and baby fat, yet there's some rock-solid underlying structure.
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James Suckling
This has wonderful length and focus with racy fine tannins that go on for minutes. Medium body with tension and beauty. Extremely long and linear. A different nature to it. One for the cellar.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Based on co-ferments of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and drawing from several sites around Oakville, Tor's 2021 Pure Magic delivers a gorgeous mix of red and black fruit, suggesting red raspberries and black cherries. While never the biggest or most concentrated of Tor's numerous bottlings, this vintage is full-bodied yet especially silky textured. Framed by fine-grained tannins, this elegant offering is wonderfully balanced and long on the finish.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.