Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer to Kalon 2023

Hailing from the benchmark gravelly benches of Oakville’s legendary Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, this 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon encapsulates the hallmark power, seamless structural detail, and opulent dark fruit that define this iconic site.

The nose is monumental and deeply layered, exploding with cassis, wild blackberries, and black cherry reduction, interwoven with sophisticated notes of dark chocolate, crushed violets, dried tobacco leaf, sweet iron ore, and integrated french oak spice. On the palate, the wine enters with massive presence and broad, velvet-like shoulders. A concentrated, tongue-coating core of black fruits expands effortlessly across the mid-palate, supported by ultra-fine, gravelly tannins that build firm, architectural structure without a trace of astringency. Held in perfect alignment by the cool, vibrant acidity of the 2023 vintage, it finishes with incredible length, echoing for over a minute with notes of espresso roast, crushed slate, graphite, and cocoa nib.

The 2023 Beckstoffer To Kalon has perhaps a little bit more black fruit in it than it typically does because of how late the vintage was and how cold the vintage was, but it still has the shading of red fruit that is so classic in this vineyard. This has the aromatics that kind of remind me of the classic wines from the mid-70s in Napa, where you have a bit of umami as well as earth allied to the powerful fruit. On the palate, this is all silk and polish. There was not a hard edge to be found anywhere on this wine, from the beginning to the end, it’s completely round and seamless.