2021 Macauley To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

DEC98 The Cabernet Sauvignon fruit harvested from the famous Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville begins with fermentation in open-top 225-litre Taransaud and Darnajou barrels, held in the coolest part of the cellar for cold-soaking for five days and then let them warm up and fermentation kicks off and lasts for 10-12 days. This is a seamless wine from this famous vineyard imbued with a robust tannic structure, a panoply of crunchy redberry fruit, black cherry, and spiced plums with elegant brown spices and crushed wild herbs with rich graphite mineral intensity, long and focused and marked by an excellent freshness factor. I tasted the 2021s with Owner Mac Watson and Kirk Venge. While tasting this, we were commiserating over Mac’s desire to barrel ferment in large 600-litre barrels, which gives Venge a bit of a headache. These two long-time friends make excellent wines together. Watson owns no vineyards but has long-term contracts with 14-16 different vineyards, among the absolute best in Napa. Total production is always at most 2,600 cases. Kirk Venge has made the wine since the first vintage.
JD96-98 Blueberries, black raspberries, and cassis as well as flowery incense and spice notes just about jump out of the glass of the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, another inky hued 2021 offering wonderful purity, building tannins, and a great overall, concentrated, balanced profile.