Wine reviews
Blended with 5% Cabernet Franc, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Lithology Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard boasts a deep purple hue as well as a thrilling perfume of blue fruits, graphite, sweet tobacco, and spring flowers. It's another rich, concentrated, powerful 2021 delivering building, ripe, silky tannins, flawless overall balance, and incredible length on the finish. For the tech sheet geeks out there, this came from multiple blocks, was fermented in a mix of wood and concrete, and spent 22 months in 74% new French oak. – JD
A barrel sample of the Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon reveals an immense wine, well-endowed with powerfully structured tannins and an opulence of inky black fruit with plenty of wild herbs, cedar, coffee-bean and dried floral nuances that are still melding together. I will re-taste in early 2024. Winemaker Matt Sands relayed to me that consultant Michel Rolland thinks that 2021 is “the vintage of the century” for Napa Valley Cabernet. – JC
Moving to the reds, I was able to taste two samples of the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Lithology Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, one fermented in concrete and the other fermented in French oak. Both showed brilliantly, with wonderful purity of fruit, the dense, concentrated style of the vintage, and just about flawless balance. As with most top 2021s, short-term cellaring is going to be the name of the game. – JD