Collector Wines

wines

From another outstanding vineyard, the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard’s scorched earth/burning ember, blueberry, graphite, and black currant characteristics are reminiscent of a top Bordeaux such as La Mission Haut-Brion. Dense, full-bodied and chewy with fabulous concentration, sweet tannins, and remarkable length, this profound Cabernet Sauvignon should last for 25-30 years.Paul Hobbs is one of the most brilliant consultants working in California, and he is well-placed in Argentina with a number of projects there as well. His empire is in the Russian River, and it continues to expand, with a bevy of artisinal hand-made Chardonnays, Pinot Noirs, Cabernet Sauvignons, and more recently, Syrahs. These are full-throttle wines that merit serious attention. He clearly fared very well with his 2006 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir programs, and seems to have hit veritable home runs with the brilliance of these wines as well as his Cabernets and Syrahs in 2007. Paul Hobbs’ 2007 Chardonnays are crisp, full-bodied, intensely flavorful wines with higher than usual levels of vibrancy and freshness because of the acid profiles and cool growing season. In addition to the great success he enjoys with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah, Hobbs also hits all the high notes with his Cabernet Sauvignons. There are five offerings, starting with his Napa bottling, one of the better generic efforts in the marketplace. Another fabulous vintage for Paul Hobbs, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignons may ultimately come close to resembling the great successes he has had, including his brilliant 2001s and 2002s.Robert Parker | 95 RPInky ruby. Red- and blackcurrant aromas, with an array of floral and herbal qualities adding complexity. Rich cherry and blackberry flavors are a touch brooding but gain sweetness and spiciness with air. The long finish features dark fruit and tobacco qualities. This one deserves patience.Vinous Media | 92+ VM

More expressive and open-knit, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard sports a similar ruby/purple to go with an incredible array of black raspberry, cassis, flowery incense, orange blossom, smoked tobacco, and exotic spice. As are all To Kolans, it’s incredibly perfumed and complex aromatically, and it’s one of those wines that changes every time you come back to the glass. Full-bodied on the palate, it offers beautiful richness and depth, a light, graceful mouthfeel, silky tannins, and a heavenly finish. It’s another magical wine from this talented winemaker that readers will absolutely love.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDBlackcurrants, black cherries, ripe raspberries and tar. Some graphite, too. It’s full-bodied and very plush with crushed tannins and an airy mouth-feel. Just floats across the palate. So fine. It has a second finish at the end, where the tannins emerge at the front of the palate. Quite unique. Drinkable now, but better after 2027.James Suckling | 99 JSA glowing representation of Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet with a classic nose of blackcurrant, graphite and new cedar oak. Full-bodied and richly layered with immensely concentrated black fruit flavours that are pure silk on the palate. Satiny, ultra-fine tannins make this almost too easy to drink, while decadent melted chocolate notes merge with baking spices to complete this scrumptious wine. As it opens, the wine begins to reveal a mineral elegance that is iron-like, along with pretty red florals and finishing with crème de cassis and herbs. A real collector wine. Drinking Window: 2022 - 2050Decanter | 98 DECThe 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard is fabulous. Deep and vertical, the 2019 possesses tremendous richness and pure power. A seamless, layered wine, the To Kalon is seriously impressive today, but it also needs time to be at its most expressive. Crème de cassis, lavender, licorice and cloves build as the 2019 gradually shows off its pedigree and potential.Antonio Galloni | 97 AGHobbs’s first vintage of this wine was in 1999, so it has a relatively long track record. The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard features aromas of mint, cassis and plum on the nose, while the palate is full-bodied and opulent yet densely packed. Where this wine really shines is the finish, which is long and softly dusty in feel, while adding complex notes of licorice, mocha and baking spices. 494 cases produced.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96+ RPShows menthol, sweet bay leaf, violet and tobacco notes, which set the stage for a core of winey cassis and crushed plum fruit. Ample structure courses underneath, with a tilt to loamy in feel through the deep, broad finish. Reveals a late flash of iron, too. A serious version. Best from 2023 through 2040. 494 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WS

Paul Hobbs’ 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from their Nathan Coombs Estate was hand-sorted while still cold from night-harvesting, fermented in small, closed-top, stainless steel tanks with native yeasts, cold soaked for five days and macerated for 30 days with gentle pump-overs and délestage, aged 20 months in 96% new French oak barrels, including Darnajou, Taransaud, Boutes, Leroi, Baron, La Grange, Marchive, and Vicard coopers and bottled unfined and unfiltered. This is an immaculate wine. It is positively brimming with incredible upfront drinking appeal, but this is a wine you could lay down for a generation. It’s a masterful creation, imbued with tension, density, ironstone, and black rock minerality so prominent that you taste pulverised igneous and metamorphic rocks in powder form. The mineral component is just remarkable. Medium-bodied with beautifully pure black cherry and blackberry fruits, black olive, and liquorice, underscored by such precision-focused tannins that the textural feel is so delicate, pixelated, and silky, the wine glides over the palate with ease. An undercurrent of expressive acidity keeps everything light and refreshing, and nuances of tobacco, brown baking spices, salty dark chocolate, and cedarwood layer in a tapestry of flavours that will meld together over the years to form a wine so pleasing it might simply be overwhelming.Decanter Magazine | 100 DECA great example of a 2021 from a district of southern Napa that often produces the coolest, most supple cabernets. So dense yet silky and elegant. Graphite, iron, seashell and espresso aromas meet super-concentrated flavors of blackcurrant, blackberry and cocoa, all wrapped in extra-fine tannins that structure it for long aging without being at all harsh to sip now. Fresh and balanced. Drinkable now, but best from 2030.James Suckling | 99 JSThe 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Nathan Coombs Estate is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the estate’s best blocks, planted around 2002. Scents of blueberries, cassis, vanilla, loam, cedar and some faint floral elements appear on the soaring, complex nose, while the full-bodied palate is concentrated, almost creamy-rich across the mid-palate, then long and supple on the finish. Impressive for its concentration and energy.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPThe 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Nathan Coombs Estate, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, is a heady, exotic wine. All the signatures of this site are amplified to the core. Blackberry jam, crème de cassis, lavender, licorice, cloves and chocolate all saturate the palate. Dense and potent, with tremendous mid-palate richness, the 2021 is a wine of sweeping grandeur and sheer intensity. Fabulous.Vinous Media | 97 VMRipe black fruits, iron, smoked tobacco, graphite, and a beautiful sense of minerality all emerge from the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Nathan Coombs Estate, another insanely good wine from this winemaker. With full-bodied richness and a deep, seamlessly textured mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a thrilling finish, this has some accessibility today yet deserves a solid 5-7 years of bottle age. I suspect it will see its 50th birthday in fine form.Jeb Dunnuck | 97+ JDRipe and lush, showing an expansive core of cassis, plum reduction and blackberry compote flavors infused with sweet bay, violet and dried anise notes. Sleek toast works in harmony, allowing the fruit to play out over a cast iron note on the finish. Extremely solid. Best from 2026 through 2038. 510 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WS