Wine reviews
Macauley’s 2014 Cabernet Franc To Kalon, while not yet in bottle, has a dense purple color, a stunning nose of burning embers, charcoal, graphite, blueberry and forest floor in what looks to already be a 100- point set of aromatics. On the palate, the wine is unctuously textured but not heavy, incredibly welldelineated, rich, pure and just absolutely sensational. If they can get this into the bottle the way it’s tasting now, this is a three-digit wine if I’ve ever tasted one. Drink it over the next 20 years.- RP If I’m not mistaken, Kirk Venge, the son of Nils Venge, is the consulting winemaker for Macauley, and if so, he has clearly turned in an all-star, world-class performance. His father made the first 100-point Napa Valley wine, the 1985 Groth Reserve, but I think the son has taken up his father’s skill set and now is beginning to build on it. The Macauley Vineyard wines from 2014 look to be the finest wines they have made to date, so get on board.
The 2014 Cabernet Franc Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard is sensational stuff and one of the finest Cabernet Francs in this report. Possessing a huge nose of scorched earth, toasty oak, black currants, chocolate, underbrush and dried flowers, it hits the palate, with a huge array of sweet fruit, a building, incredible mid-palate, ripe tannin and a finish that won't quit. It possesses an incredible sweetness of fruit, yet is dry and clean on the finish. It's a huge, unctuous, almost over the top beauty that needs to be tasted to believed. – JD