Wine reviews
Dense and chewy, with a rich, massive core of earthy currant, wild berry, cedar and rye, it firms up on the finish, with taut tannins that offer a hint of chicory. The finish keeps revealing extra flavor nuances. Best from 2008 through 2013. 125 cases made. – J. L
This is a small garage winery producing a total of 800 cases of old vine Zinfandels and high-quality Cabernet Sauvignons. The latter wines emerge from one of Napa’s great vineyard sites, Beckstoffer’s To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville. What is different at Schrader is that they produce three Cabernet Sauvignons representing different clones, in this case Clones 4, 6, and 337. The winemaking is strictly artisinal and non-interventionalistic, with the Cabernets spending 18-22 months in primarily new Darnajou barrels prior to being bottled. The 2003s performed superbly after bottling, clearly superior to their performance from barrel. The more backward, tannic 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon T-6 (Clone 6 from the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard) comes across as more Bordeaux-like because of the tannic structure. It is bigger, richer, and fuller-bodied than the RBS, with tremendous depth, power, and concentration, but it is more of a long-term proposition than something for immediate gratification. This wine requires 2-3 years of bottle age and should drink well for 15-20 years.
The most backward of this quartet appears to be the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Schrader Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard. With great richness, power and intensity as well as lots of blackberry, creme de cassis, coffee and chocolaty notes, an exuberant fragrance, a certain sensuality and sexiness despite its massive richness and fullbodied, broodingly backward style; this killer Cabernet needs to be forgotten for 3-4 years. It should be drunk over the following two decades. These wines represent an obsessive-compulsive intellectual study of the effect of different Cabernet Sauvignon clones in a single vineyard, in this case, the great Beckstoffer To-Kalon site in Oakville. Made by Thomas Brown for Fred (Old Sparky) and Carol Schrader, these wines are all stunning. At age ten, they are just beginning to reveal some nuances and differences illustrated by this clonal exercise. -RP