Wine reviews
I will keep my tasting notes for the barrel samples of 2013 red wines short since they will be reviewed from bottle next year, but it looks to be the finest overall vintage for Alpha Omega to date, even eclipsing what they accomplished in 2012. There are several candidates for perfection, including the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane and the 2013 Proprietary Red Blend ERA. Right behind them are some other killer examples, including the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras, 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Georges III, 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon, 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Stagecoach Vineyard and the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper. Even the 2013 Proprietary Red Blend Nuance, which is meant to be their more delicate, Margaux-like Cabernet, should turn out to be as good as the 2012. By and large, one sees super-richness, purity, intensity and depth in these 2013s, with even more delineation and tannin than the 2012s. It will be a great vintage, resulting in two fabulous back-to-back vintages for Alpha Omega. Swiss-born Jean Hoefliger had plenty of experience in Bordeaux and working with Michel Rolland at Newton Vineyards before taking over the reins at Alpha Omega. He has hit pay-dirt with the 2012s, the finest vintage I have tasted from this ambitious winery located on Route 29, south of St. Helena. They have some great vineyard sources for their Cabernet Sauvignon, particularly the range of Beckstoffer-owned, first-growth quality sites spread throughout Napa. - RP
It seems as if everyone who draws fruit off the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, that great valley floor site south of St. Helena near the Mondavi winery, turns out something totally prodigious. Alpha Omega has certainly done it with their 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon. The wine has notes of blackberry, pen ink, lead pencil shavings, charcoal, unsmoked cigar tobacco, and blackberries. It is huge, massive and rich, with incredible purity, balance and overall equilibrium. The wine saturates the mouth but is not heavy and shows that extraordinary, striking purity and intensity of what we all consider a world-class, great, great wine. It is approachable now, but it really won’t hit its peak for another 7-8 years, and last three decades or more. -RP
This masters a balance of loamy, rich, earth-laced currant and blackberry notes with savory tar and dried herb flavors in a tightly focused presentation highlighted by a spicy, mocha-tinged oak ending that pulls the flavors together. Drink now through 2030. 350 cases made.–JL
This masters a balance of loamy, rich, earth-laced currant and blackberry notes with savory tar and dried herb flavors in a tightly focused presentation highlighted by a spicy, mocha-tinged oak ending that pulls the flavors together. Drink now through 2030. 350 cases made.–JL