2018 Colesworthy Cabernet Sauvignon
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Tasting notes
A tour de force from this team, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard Colesworthy is a barrel selection from this site and I believe it’s brought up all in new Darnajou barrels. It’s a quintessential 2018 with its more reserved, elegant, yet incredibly concentrated style, and like its sibling, it has a beautiful, savory style that includes a wealth of red and black fruits as well as espresso, tobacco leaf, cedar pencil, and dried flowers. It’s actually more reserved and backward than the straight single vineyard release and is full-bodied and flawlessly balanced, with massive tannins, integrated acidity, and a great, great finish. Like a lot of top 2018s from Napa, there’s a more Bordeaux’esque quality to this wine. The tannins are firm and present, there’s plenty of edge and cut, and it delivers a beautiful sense of weightlessness on the palate. Forget bottles for 5-7 years and enjoy over the following 25-30 years.
Critic scores
Jeb Dunnuck
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Schrader’s “Colesworthy” comes from Beckstoffer’s Las Piedras vineyard, produced from 337 clone grown on the C block. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard Colesworthy is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and was aged in 100% new Darnajou and Taransaud French oak barrels for 18 months. Deep garnet-purple in color, it is youthfully mute to begin, needing some swirling before it explodes with exuberant black cherries, cassis, blackberry pie with sautéed herbs scents, plus a hint of fragrant earth. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is chock-full of freshly crushed red and black fruit flavors, delivering wonderful vibrancy and finishing long and lively. Bottled in magnums, 118 nine-liter cases were made.
About the producer
Schrader Cellars is one of Napa’s cult names. It focuses on pairing specific clones with the perfect site to produce the ultimate expression of Napa Cabernet. The results regularly receive the very highest scores from critics, with 19 100-point scores from the Wine Advocate to date.