To Kalon and Dr. Crane Night (Charlie Palmer Steak NYC): 4 1/2 years since my previous bottle and I'm bumping my score up a point. Decanted for over 45 minutes before pouring. Full bodied, with a long finish. Floral notes mixed with Blueberry fruit.
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Another virtuoso performance for this wine. Very similar performance to my last bottle 2 years ago. Lots of life left. Wonderful upon opening and started to show hints of shutting down early in the decanter, so I put it back in the bottle and slow-oxed it which worked perfectly. Excellent cab with great mouthfeel, layers of flavor and nice finish. Lots of dark chocolate covered black cherries (also blackberry) with some mocha and subtle graphite. A pleasant chalkiness to this velvety wine. Impressive
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Opened at 9am to be consumed at dinner around 7pm. This was my selection for my GF's B-day. We had the 2014 vintage a few months ago and it was amazing, this one no so great, despite I like '13s more than other vintages. Maybe the way I treated the bottle wasn't the proper way and a short decanter closer to the time of consumption was the way to go. I won't ever know because I have no more bottles. Talking a bit about the wine it was medium+ body, to dry and to acid, it fell like never really opened up. We follow it during the 2 hours dinner and didn't improved much. The steak help it a bit.
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Right up there with WOTN.......takes an hour or two of air to reach its potential..... but man, it's quite a potential. Great dark red fruit, weight, tannins and rigid acidity making this good for another 5-10 years. You wouldn't have guessed it at first opening. Felt a bit weak on opening. Nice end point after watching Andy Reid finally win a Super Bowl.
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Excellent cab with great mouthfeel, layers of flavor and nice finish. Lots of dark chocolate covered black cherries with some mocha. A pleasant chalkiness to this velvety wine. Got better with air as it all integrated - peaked at about 3 hours after opening. Impressive
Classic cab nose, florals, briar, great red/black fruit. This is classic Cali cab! Powerful yet silky dark red fruit, great mouthfeel, aged to a nice drinking window, yet plenty of tannins/acidity to go many years more. Nice oak treatment wraps it all up into a neat little package. Almost a little BDX'ish in it's fruit, lead pencil and astringency. Nice.
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In a real good spot right now. Decanted 1 hour, great cab nose. Nice combo of red/black fruit, smooth tannins and perfect acidity with plenty of Rutherford dust on the end. Very good wine for the price! About $125 at the local Costco.
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My first bottle from this producer, although I have had Beckstoffer Tokalon wines from other producers. Popped 'n Poured, but not decanted, at a NYC restaurant. Big, bold wine, with a long finish. A decant may have prompted a higher score, but it was still special.
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Another great tasting with HowellMountainCru, this time with a lineup of the 3 biggies from BacioD all on the same table......'14 Missouri Hopper, '13 To Kalon and '14 Cloudys. Cannot stress enough that each of these wines alone in their own right, are fantastic and well worth the money but side by side by side, significant differences are noted. The final decision for 2 out of 3 was the TK as the sure winner. Just more depth, more layers, more weight.
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Enjoyed last night with HowellMountainCru (thanks! Jim).....unmistakable Janzen texture which carries across their entire line of cabs apparently....a feathery, velvety mouth feel. Dark in the glass with an inviting dark fruit/floral nose. Excellent weight on entry and all the way through. More complex layers and darker black/red fruit than say, the Cloudys and takes on added intensity with time in the glass. This is a pretty prodigious wine! Def in the 96-97 pt category. Drinking very well right now!
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Coravin pour, drank over 3 hours. Purple almost black in the glass with a dark garnet rim. Viscous with significant legs.
Initial nose earthy lofted by alcohol which transitioned over time to Cocoa, dust and slight herbal notes. With air black fruit notes and perhaps tea appeared.
Initial taste - black cherry, black raspberries, and plum. As it got air it moved more toward the blue fruit spectrum exhibiting notes of blueberry compote. Noticeable tannin backbone also present which gave me the impression of black tea.
The tannins and other acids were very present and only complimented the evolving fruit front and mid palate. This structure made for a mouth watering taste which culminated in a wonderfully long and pleasing finish.
In conclusion, I have had the 2014 Janzen Missouri Hopper, 2014 Cloudy's and now this 2013 To Kalon this week. All fantastic, similar but distinct wines.
Because of the fantastic finish I rate this the highest at 97. Just a great wine which I think is just entering its drinking window.
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5 hour decant. Huge nose of blackberry and cedar. Initial impact carried the blackberries but opened up ripe dark fruit. The mid was unexpected as it brought out the oak integrated with blueberry and a ton of spice ranging from pepper to cinnamon to cardamom and then currant came out. The finish was probably one of the most elegant, if not THE, to-kalon finishes ever. Very long, very hefty, very inviting. The only reason this doesn't have a 100 from me is the vintage. Give it time, this work will be a treasure.
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Dark purple robe, initial nose of black cherry, spring flowers, red cherry, blackberry. Mouth is loamy, tannic. This is nice but needs 5 years. The tannins became more prominent throughout the 4 hour decant.
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Decided to pop a bottle for the El Clasico - what a great game. Dark red and black fruit - dark cherry, currants, and blackberry. Smooth mid-palate with nice depth and a beautiful purity. Fairly long finish. Decanted for two hours and drank over another three. Improved a little with time but drinking well after the decant. I've had a number of different vintages of this wine, however, no question this is the best that I've had but I guess that's not a big surprise in light of the vintage. In my opinion, more or less in line with Parker's 96 rating.
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Decided to revisit since the tasting last May because I'm considering buying more to lay down in light of the great vintage. Purple fruit - blueberry, blackberry, currants, and a little plum. Smooth mid-palate with nice depth. Fairly long/deep finish. Decanted for two hours and drank over another three. Improved with time and drinking well after the decant but ideally needs a little longer for the fruit to soften and open-up which is no surprise in light of its youth. The winery recommended at least another 6 months if drinking young but I'm inclined to lay this vintage down for another year. No surprise Parker rated this wine 96 points.
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2/7/2023 - SMHalps Likes this wine: 96 Points
To Kalon and Dr. Crane Night (Charlie Palmer Steak NYC): 4 1/2 years since my previous bottle and I'm bumping my score up a point. Decanted for over 45 minutes before pouring. Full bodied, with a long finish. Floral notes mixed with Blueberry fruit.
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8/8/2022 - iamandyc Likes this wine: 96 Points
Another virtuoso performance for this wine. Very similar performance to my last bottle 2 years ago. Lots of life left. Wonderful upon opening and started to show hints of shutting down early in the decanter, so I put it back in the bottle and slow-oxed it which worked perfectly. Excellent cab with great mouthfeel, layers of flavor and nice finish. Lots of dark chocolate covered black cherries (also blackberry) with some mocha and subtle graphite. A pleasant chalkiness to this velvety wine. Impressive
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6/14/2020 - gteran76 Does not like this wine: 88 Points
Opened at 9am to be consumed at dinner around 7pm. This was my selection for my GF's B-day. We had the 2014 vintage a few months ago and it was amazing, this one no so great, despite I like '13s more than other vintages. Maybe the way I treated the bottle wasn't the proper way and a short decanter closer to the time of consumption was the way to go. I won't ever know because I have no more bottles. Talking a bit about the wine it was medium+ body, to dry and to acid, it fell like never really opened up. We follow it during the 2 hours dinner and didn't improved much. The steak help it a bit.
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2/2/2020 - Mark1npt Likes this wine: 96 Points
Right up there with WOTN.......takes an hour or two of air to reach its potential..... but man, it's quite a potential. Great dark red fruit, weight, tannins and rigid acidity making this good for another 5-10 years. You wouldn't have guessed it at first opening. Felt a bit weak on opening. Nice end point after watching Andy Reid finally win a Super Bowl.
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10/2/2019 - iamandyc Likes this wine: 95 Points
Excellent cab with great mouthfeel, layers of flavor and nice finish. Lots of dark chocolate covered black cherries with some mocha. A pleasant chalkiness to this velvety wine. Got better with air as it all integrated - peaked at about 3 hours after opening. Impressive
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6/5/2019 - Mark1npt Likes this wine: 95 Points
Classic cab nose, florals, briar, great red/black fruit. This is classic Cali cab! Powerful yet silky dark red fruit, great mouthfeel, aged to a nice drinking window, yet plenty of tannins/acidity to go many years more. Nice oak treatment wraps it all up into a neat little package. Almost a little BDX'ish in it's fruit, lead pencil and astringency. Nice.
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1/27/2019 - Mark1npt Likes this wine: 95 Points
In a real good spot right now. Decanted 1 hour, great cab nose. Nice combo of red/black fruit, smooth tannins and perfect acidity with plenty of Rutherford dust on the end. Very good wine for the price! About $125 at the local Costco.
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8/7/2018 - SMHalps Likes this wine: 95 Points
My first bottle from this producer, although I have had Beckstoffer Tokalon wines from other producers. Popped 'n Poured, but not decanted, at a NYC restaurant. Big, bold wine, with a long finish. A decant may have prompted a higher score, but it was still special.
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7/18/2018 - Mark1npt Likes this wine: 96 Points
Another great tasting with HowellMountainCru, this time with a lineup of the 3 biggies from BacioD all on the same table......'14 Missouri Hopper, '13 To Kalon and '14 Cloudys. Cannot stress enough that each of these wines alone in their own right, are fantastic and well worth the money but side by side by side, significant differences are noted. The final decision for 2 out of 3 was the TK as the sure winner. Just more depth, more layers, more weight.
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7/10/2018 - Mark1npt Likes this wine: 97 Points
Enjoyed last night with HowellMountainCru (thanks! Jim).....unmistakable Janzen texture which carries across their entire line of cabs apparently....a feathery, velvety mouth feel. Dark in the glass with an inviting dark fruit/floral nose. Excellent weight on entry and all the way through. More complex layers and darker black/red fruit than say, the Cloudys and takes on added intensity with time in the glass. This is a pretty prodigious wine! Def in the 96-97 pt category. Drinking very well right now!
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7/9/2018 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine: 97 Points
Coravin pour, drank over 3 hours. Purple almost black in the glass with a dark garnet rim. Viscous with significant legs.
Initial nose earthy lofted by alcohol which transitioned over time to Cocoa, dust and slight herbal notes. With air black fruit notes and perhaps tea appeared.
Initial taste - black cherry, black raspberries, and plum. As it got air it moved more toward the blue fruit spectrum exhibiting notes of blueberry compote. Noticeable tannin backbone also present which gave me the impression of black tea.
The tannins and other acids were very present and only complimented the evolving fruit front and mid palate. This structure made for a mouth watering taste which culminated in a wonderfully long and pleasing finish.
In conclusion, I have had the 2014 Janzen Missouri Hopper, 2014 Cloudy's and now this 2013 To Kalon this week. All fantastic, similar but distinct wines.
Because of the fantastic finish I rate this the highest at 97. Just a great wine which I think is just entering its drinking window.
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5/13/2017 - Vine ninja Likes this wine: 97 Points
5 hour decant. Huge nose of blackberry and cedar. Initial impact carried the blackberries but opened up ripe dark fruit. The mid was unexpected as it brought out the oak integrated with blueberry and a ton of spice ranging from pepper to cinnamon to cardamom and then currant came out. The finish was probably one of the most elegant, if not THE, to-kalon finishes ever. Very long, very hefty, very inviting. The only reason this doesn't have a 100 from me is the vintage. Give it time, this work will be a treasure.
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5/5/2017 - Shaun Mondavi wrote: 93 Points
Dark purple robe, initial nose of black cherry, spring flowers, red cherry, blackberry. Mouth is loamy, tannic. This is nice but needs 5 years. The tannins became more prominent throughout the 4 hour decant.
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4/24/2017 - Badmonkey wrote: 96 Points
Decided to pop a bottle for the El Clasico - what a great game. Dark red and black fruit - dark cherry, currants, and blackberry. Smooth mid-palate with nice depth and a beautiful purity. Fairly long finish. Decanted for two hours and drank over another three. Improved a little with time but drinking well after the decant. I've had a number of different vintages of this wine, however, no question this is the best that I've had but I guess that's not a big surprise in light of the vintage. In my opinion, more or less in line with Parker's 96 rating.
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3/11/2017 - Badmonkey wrote: 95 Points
Decided to revisit since the tasting last May because I'm considering buying more to lay down in light of the great vintage. Purple fruit - blueberry, blackberry, currants, and a little plum. Smooth mid-palate with nice depth. Fairly long/deep finish. Decanted for two hours and drank over another three. Improved with time and drinking well after the decant but ideally needs a little longer for the fruit to soften and open-up which is no surprise in light of its youth. The winery recommended at least another 6 months if drinking young but I'm inclined to lay this vintage down for another year. No surprise Parker rated this wine 96 points.
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