98pts Decanter

The Cabernet Sauvignon fruit harvested from the famous Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville begins with fermentation in open-top 225-litre Taransaud and Darnajou barrels, held in the coolest part of the cellar for cold-soaking for five days and then let them warm up and fermentation kicks off and lasts for 10-12 days. This is a seamless wine from this famous vineyard imbued with a robust tannic structure, a panoply of crunchy redberry fruit, black cherry, and spiced plums with elegant brown spices and crushed wild herbs with rich graphite mineral intensity, long and focused and marked by an excellent freshness factor. I tasted the 2021s with Owner Mac Watson and Kirk Venge. While tasting this, we were commiserating over Mac’s desire to barrel ferment in large 600-litre barrels, which gives Venge a bit of a headache. These two long-time friends make excellent wines together. Watson owns no vineyards but has long-term contracts with 14-16 different vineyards, among the absolute best in Napa. Total production is always at most 2,600 cases. Kirk Venge has made the wine since the first vintage.

98pts Jeb Dunnuck

Blueberries, black raspberries, and cassis as well as flowery incense and spice notes just about jump out of the glass of the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, another inky hued 2021 offering wonderful purity, building tannins, and a great overall, concentrated, balanced profile.Winemaker Notes

Blend: 98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc

Winemaker Notes

Opening to an inky hue of deep purple, the 2018 Macauley Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon has a magical feel to it, as if you’ve just uncorked an enological genie in a bottle. Sourced from clones 337 and 4 and aged for 28 months in new Taransaud and Darnajou oak, this vintage of their most sought-after wine has an elegance and seamlessness to it that flirts with perfection. Blueberry, crème de cassis, violets, dried cherries and chocolate levitate from the bouquet, while the mouthfeel lays out a magic carpet of dark fruit, espresso, and barrel vanillin. Cellared correctly, this lovely cru should hold for 20 to 25 years.

The Macauley Vineyard label was originally established in St. Helena in the early 1980s by Ann Macauley Watson and for several years produced a very well received late harvest Sauvignon Blanc with help from renowned winemaker, Ric Forman.

In the late summer of 2000, Ann’s son Mac went to work for Rudd Estate in Oakville. After several months of winery work and education he was inspired to revive the family label, and, working with winemaker and childhood friend Kirk Venge, crushed his first grapes in October 2001.

Mac and Kirk have one goal: to source the highest quality fruit in Napa Valley and make wines of extraordinary depth and personality. The grapes they choose showcase the terroir of the vineyards and create a remarkable wine-drinking experience.