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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 96.3 pts. and median of 96 pts. in 54 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by MOCGator on 11/25/2023 & rated 97 points: Astonishing for the very tannic 2013’s. Typical ToKalon. (981 views) | | | Tasted by danielbleier on 11/18/2023 & rated 97 points: on a night a great wine, this paired best with the beef dish at the end of the night - deep powerful currant, blackberries, blueberries in an intoxicatingly deep and lush wine. (931 views) | | | Tasted by jviz on 10/7/2023 & rated 95 points: Popped and poured, followed over several hours with my best friend and a couple of ribeyes. Universal glass, no decant.
Pretty aromatic from the start with blackberry pie notes. This wine has relaxed itself a bit, there’s no chewy sense to the wood, and instead it comes across as plush and massive. Acidity was better than expected, too. This has fruit to last 200 years, and while the acidity tasted titrated to me, it seems to be holding in balance. A bottle to drink and enjoy (maybe on its own) but not one I intend to replace. (1206 views) | | | Tasted by Rramey on 4/1/2023 & rated 94 points: 50th Birthday Wine! (1625 views) | | | Tasted by jviz on 3/3/2023 & rated 96 points: A generous glass by Tmud and co. Like the 2013 RBS, it avoids overripe, figgy, or roasted notes. Tannins are melting at this point. We talked about what it means for a wine of this style and caliber to be at peak drinking window. Here the acidity remains balancing, just enough. Mountains of fruit are beginning to recede and the structure is softening enough that I’d say it’s entering a drinking window. Will I want it in 10 more years? I suppose so, for curiosity at least. Will it remain in balance? I’m not betting on it and won’t have much from this era around to find out (1725 views) | | | Tasted by Amerique on 10/15/2022 & rated 96 points: Rich, delicious black cherry fruit with sweet cassis flavors, very round, excellent structure, mild tannins, ample finish (1971 views) | | | Tasted by bsbrown05 on 7/16/2022: Purchased from winery as a library release, in May 2020; opened bottle, no decant, recorked bottle between servings, on its side to minimize sediment.
5:10pm: Very tightly wound upon opening. Sludge at the cork.
6:00pm: Much more expressive bouquet of red and black fruits. Tannins remain very strong.
6:40pm: bouquet remains strong. Tannins resolving.
7:20pm: bouquet less pronounced.
8:15pm: seems to be losing steam. Finish fairly truncated but well integrated secondary characteristics. (2299 views) | | | Tasted by Bcw1989 on 3/17/2022: Classic Schrader taste, look and smell. Fantastic bottle of wine. (2555 views) | | | Tasted by #1Winelover on 1/2/2022 & rated 99 points: Battle of the Bastards. I mean battle of the best! Chateau Pavie 2009, Harlan 2009, Schrader CCS 2013 and Schrader CCS 2019. New Years Eve celebration and the wines were all amazing. Except for the Schrader CCS 2019, all were in their prime drinking window. The Schrader CCS 2019 was very good -- it just needs a couple of years and/or a looooong decant. All wines were decanted for 2-3 hours and all of them got better as the night went on. (3617 views) | | | Tasted by Niagara on 1/1/2022: So many fines in this one the wine was turbid, even after careful decanting. Odd. (2263 views) | | | Tasted by pakabear on 10/31/2021 & rated 96 points: Drinking real well right now, better with a couple hours of air. Dark cassis, cherry, blackberry, dried roses, cinnamon, clove, great acidity and purity of fruit. Great stuff! (2272 views) | | | Tasted by Mdb1982 on 8/24/2021 & rated 97 points: Decanted for 2 hours and then drank over the next two hours. Wine was fantastic, very complex and structured. Very well balanced, with nice fruit forward flavor. The nose was unique and floral. We enjoyed it. My score, 97. (2237 views) | | | Tasted by rustyRudy on 8/11/2021 & rated 100 points: Simply amazing, drinking phenomenally now, great fruit, everything in balance and super finish. (2024 views) | | | Tasted by andrewdodd86 on 8/11/2021 & rated 100 points: Beach 2021; 8/7/2021-8/14/2021 (Kiawah Island, SC): Perfect. Transcendental. Utterly perfect. Overachieved my expectations, I though it would be a slight step up from the RBS but I was wrong. Potentially the best California Cabernet I've had since a 2001 Harlan around a decade ago. Dark blackberry, blueberry compote, dark chocolate. Tannins were there for structure but not over the top and decanting surely helped. Graphite, vanilla, cassis, waves of flavor. So well integrated, such a iron fist/velvet glove that I think is Schrader's signature style. Not a hard edge, but so back with flavor and depth. Finish lasted forever, was floored. Presumably will last forever but approachable now, was in a perfect spot for my tastes. (2327 views) | | | Tasted by brianngibson on 6/29/2021 & rated 99 points: An ethereal wine. Slow ox’ed for 5 hours then decanted for a little over an hour, and consumed over the next 2 hours. Captivating wine that is brimming with cassis, spring flowers, softening tannins, and a long finish. (1854 views) | | | Tasted by gharter on 6/21/2021 & rated 99 points: Amazing wine. Benefitted from a 2 hour decant, but shined after that. Blackberry, blueberry, cassis, floral, pencil shavings on the nose. Loaded with smooth, silky, balanced fruit. Blackberry, cassis, spice, floral and pencil shavings. Long silky smooth finish. Incredible now with a decant, but should hold for years. (1747 views) | | | Tasted by Teknsteel on 1/6/2021 & rated 98 points: Decanted for 3 hrs as per the previous note. Amazing. (2531 views) | | | Tasted by Niagara on 12/25/2020 & rated 96 points: Big and lush. Still young but since I’m not, I’m not waiting to drink it. (1977 views) | | | Tasted by happy712 on 12/25/2020 & rated 96 points: Decant 3 hours to start accessibility window, will evolve for next few hours. Simply fantastic. (2015 views) | | | Tasted by Acohen on 11/9/2020 & rated 99 points: Wow, decanted for four hours and needed every one of them. Intense dark fruit with layers of sweet cassis, berry, dark plum and integrated fine tannins leading to an incredibly long, rich lingering finish (2330 views) | | | Tasted by gharter on 8/22/2020 & rated 98 points: Anamazing wine. Needed a 2 hour decant, but shined after that. Blackberry, blueberry, cassis, floral, pencil shavings on the nose. Loaded with smooth, silky, balanced fruit. Blackberry, cassis, spice, floral and pencil shavings. Long silky smooth finish. Incredible now with a decant, but should hold for years. (2499 views) | | | Tasted by beau11 on 2/16/2020 & rated 97 points: After seeing recent notes i decided to open a bottle against my better judgement. This bottle was in hibernation. Unfortunately i only had 3 hours in a decanter with it. This bottle needs 3-4 years to open up. Tightly bound with heavy tannin. Black cherry and blackberry with dark chocolate and stone on the pallet. Full bodied with mouth coating tannin with a 60 second finish. In contrast to other ccs which are silky, soft and seductive, this wine was very concentrated and tight. (3042 views) | | | Tasted by dcwino on 2/15/2020 & rated 98 points: Ski trip - Three wino familes; 2/14/2020-2/17/2020 (Wisp Resort): Expressive nose displaying perfectly ripe black and blue fruit, crème de cassis, blackberry concentrate, crushed blueberry, vanilla, ink, lead pencil and mineral. Perfectly integrated palate, beautifully layered concentrated black fruit, intense yet incredibly refined and silky palate, perfect amount of acidity and mineral, and a seamless long cassis fruit driven finish with vanilla and ink at the end. Really surprised by how harmonious and balanced this is showing. Perfectly approachable, drinking beautifully. (3065 views) | | | Tasted by corkcork on 10/29/2019 & rated 96 points: Drinking beautifully! (2991 views) | | | Tasted by bonedocnine on 2/13/2019 & rated 100 points: pretty much perfect (3981 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Schrader Cellars Producer websiteSchrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon CCS Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyardwith apologies to Robert Parker, here are the vineyard sources and clones of Cabernet Sauvignon he gives in Wine Advocate:
Beckstoffer To-Kalon
From the reviews I gave Schrader’s 2007s and 2008s last year and the 2005s and 2006s previously, to the recent Wine Spectator cover story on Fred and Carol Schrader, there doesn’t appear to be a hotter Cabernet Sauvignon producer in the New World than this small boutique winery. Their wines have already received four perfect scores and with this report, that grows to six. A lot of this might be somewhat confusing, but let me try and simplify their philosophy. Schrader Cellars is essentially dedicated to showcasing one of the great vineyard sites of Napa Valley, the Beckstoffer To-Kalon vineyard in Oakville. They produce wines from separate clones and parcels within that vineyard. In 2000, they added another Beckstoffer vineyard, George III, in Rutherford, which has a completely different soil base and offers another study of a different terroir. I suppose one could call this a winery within a vineyard within several parcels using some of the most famed clones of Cabernet Sauvignon to further highlight these subtle differences. As one can see from the tasting notes, the Old Sparky comes from Clone 4, Clone 6 and Clone 337, the Schrader from Clone 4, Clone 6 and Clone 337, the CCS all from Clone 4, the T6 all from Clone 6, the RBS all from Clone 337 and the George III all from Clone 337. All of this results in about 1,600 cases of wine, which is not a tiny amount as the individual selections run between a maximum of 400 cases for the George III to 150 cases of the T6. The consulting winemaker for Fred and Carol Schrader is no other than Thomas Brown, who has won all kinds of accolades (well-deserved in my opinion) over the last 12 months. In essence, these wines are aged 18-24 months in a majority of Darnajou French barrels with some Taransaud included. The wines are incredibly expressive examples of Cabernet Sauvignon that are as good as it gets for this varietal. Of course they are more similar than dissimilar, but I suspect virtually every vintage they have produced to date has 25-40 years of cellaring potential, and long term aging should produce more and more subtle differences to support this compulsive study of clones and parcels within a given vineyard. I’ll try and keep my notes simple, but these are profoundly great, world-class wines. If you can find any, don’t hesitate to buy them - you won’t regret it. These wines may also appeal to those who think alcohols have gotten out of line in Napa Valley. All of them have between 14.4% and 14.7% alcohol, which is modest for such great, rich wines.
Are readers totally confused about the multiple clonal experiments and single block Schrader Cabernet Sauvignons? All of them emanate from the Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard with one exception, the George III Vineyard in Rutherford. Schrader’s mission statement is essentially one where their 30-year leases on vineyard parcels give them the ability to present a specific clonal study of Cabernet Sauvignon from three highly desired clones (4, 6, and 337) grown within a single vineyard. Perhaps this is more than most people want or need to know. The bottom line is that with their production averages about 1,600 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon, the wines do have subtle differences, but most importantly, all of them are extraordinary in quality – among the finest wines one could possibly find in the world. Fred Schrader and his wife, Carol, hired Thomas Brown to make these wines. Their 2006s were among the finest wines of that vintage, their 2008s look to be among the top wines I tasted in that year, and the 2007s, universally acknowledged as a great vintage for Napa, are spectacular. All of these cuvees are aged in 100% new French oak, mostly Darnajou barrels with a sprinkling of Taransaud.
Tel. (707) 942-1212; fax (707) 942-1572Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonBeckstoffer To Kalon VineyardBeckstoffer To Kalon continues to receive worldwide accolades for its wines, particularly in the last decade. The vineyard is on a gentle slope on the western foothills of the Oakville appellation. Soils are Bale loam/Bale clay loam, and are impeccably farmed by Andy Beckstoffer’s team. We have a by-acre contract so we can determine canopy, crop load and picking dates – but rely on the Beckstoffer viticulturists for insight into this unique vineyard to guide our decisions. ... ©2012 Tor Kenward Family Wines
On weinlagen-info
USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Oakville |
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