TOR Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
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Suckling
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Winemaker Notes
We consider 2017 To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon one of our finest wines yet from this legendary site. It reminds us very much of our beloved 2012, for its elegance, finesse and suppleness. Wonderfully complex nose with layers of cassis, cranberry, graphite, fresh earth and bouillon. Incredibly plush, dense with remarkable palate weight, yet a freshness and vitality, finishing long with velvety tannins. Hallmark Beckstoffer To Kalon that will have an incredibly long drinking window over the next four decades or more.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon ratchets up the intensity and offers heavenly notes of blackcurrants, cassis, leafy herbs, flowery incense, and spice. A quintessential To Kolan with its full-bodied, plush, sexy style, it has terrific purity, remarkable elegance, and no hard edges. It's one of those powerful wines that just glides over the palate with no sensation of weight or heaviness. This cuvée is all Cabernet, from clones 6 and 337, harvested all before the fires, and aged 20 months in new barrels. It’s in the top 2-3 wines of the vintage.
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James Suckling
Lots of blue fruit here with raspberries and blackcurrants. Aromatic. Full-bodied, tight and focused with refined tannins that melt into the wine. Finely textured and racy at the finish. Better after 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This comes from B, D and F blocks in Beckstoffer To Kalon, all of which sit atop ancient riverbeds. It was harvested on Friday October 6th, two days before the start of the Atlas Peak fire. Yields at To Kalon are strictly managed by the team at TOR to one cluster per shoot. The wine was matured in 100% Darnajou small French oak barrels for twenty months and bottled without fining or filtration. Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, Beckstoffer To Kalon simply sings of violets, red roses and licorice over a beautiful core of warm cassis, blueberry pie and plum preserves plus nuances of Morello cherries, menthol, chocolate box and cedar. Medium to full bodied, the palate is laden with juicy black fruits and compelling tension, framed by super-firm yet wonderfully ripe, velvety tannins and finishing long and perfumed. This wine is a true triumph in a challenging vintage - bravo!
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Tasting Panel
Fragrant and rich with spice and smooth, bright berry notes. Layered, lovely, and graceful, it’s a great wine from Napa’s most famous vineyard.
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One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.