2018 TOR Cabernet Sauvignon

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 91.9 points

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  12/5/2022 - t0pshelf Likes this wine:

  pencil lead on the nose, some darker fruit but minerality dominates the taste along with the grippy tannins. A very nice wine but expected a bit more complexity at this price point.

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  6/4/2022 - TRueNOLA wrote: 93 Points

  Drank for anniversary dinner, so notes are from afterwards. On the nose, pencil shavings, violet and cassis. Big red fruit, lightly acidic, almost citric? Needs a few more years in bottle to settle down and integrate, but already great.

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  10/26/2021 - Badmonkey wrote: 93 Points

  Thinking about buying more to lay down in light of Suckling’s 96 rating and the source - derived from the Tierra Roja Vineyard. Drank over five days. Day one, purple fruit - red & black currants, dark cherry, and a little blackberry. Solid depth/concentration and nice rich flavors of dark berries, cassis, and some spice/licorice. However, the finish was fairly tart. Decanted for two hours and drank over a couple more. Improved a little with time. Like most 2018 Napa cabs that I’ve had, it clearly needs more time to soften/integrate.
  
  Over five days it gradually improved - the tartness did subside. In my opinion, in line with Dunnuck and Galloni’s 93 ratings on day five. According to Suckling, try after 2022 which makes sense. However, I would lay this wine down for at least a couple years. The 96 rating from Suckling appears a little generous but I believe a promising future with some patience. 100% cab.

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  6/1/2021 - englishman's claret wrote:

  The 2018 Tor Cabernet from Oakville is already showing a nice, dense raspberry nose with a coolness that belies the warmth of the palate (though it remains a warm glow rather than coming off as overtly boozy).

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  2/24/2021 - rkww Does not like this wine: 85 Points

  TOR Tasting at Wheeler Farms: I'm thoroughly confused about who this wine is for. It's meant to serve as an introduction to TOR cabs, but it doesn't even begin to hint at the flavor intensity that makes their single vineyard designates special. And at $100 per bottle, it vastly underperforms many second wines in its price range (e.g., Blankiet, Corison, Cornell, Dunn, Paul Hobbs, Seavey, Spottswoode), or even much cheaper options like a good vintage of Turnbull's Napa Valley ($36) or Ridge Estate ($59).
  
  Market positioning aside, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon (Oakville) suffers from the same overripeness common to all the TORs we tasted. In this case, that resulted in a midweight, silky wine with a sweet mid-palate and an intensely alcoholic finish. Notes of blackberry, black cherry, cassis, spicebox, and leather were all present, but they failed to balance the booze or to excite the taste buds. I guess you might want to give this a few years in the cellar or time in decanter to put on weight, then drink through the decade. Or you could just take your Benny Franklin elsewhere.

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View all 8 Community Tasting Notes

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