2016 Old Sparky Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard
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Tasting notes
The purity of fruit to this is phenomenal with so much blackberry and raspberry aroma, following through to a full body with wonderfully seamless, horizontal tannins that melt into the wine. Extremely fine-grained. Greatest Schrader ever made – if you appreciate elegance with power. Try in 2024. 2,580 magnums made.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The purity of fruit to this is phenomenal with so much blackberry and raspberry aroma, following through to a full body with wonderfully seamless, horizontal tannins that melt into the wine. Extremely fine-grained. Greatest Schrader ever made â if you appreciate elegance with power. Try in 2024. 2,580 magnums made.
My notes on the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Old Sparky Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard started with “Wow, what a nose” and finished with a few expletives. Based largely on the T6 Cabernet Sauvignon from To Kolan, with smaller amounts of the RBS, CCS, and Schrader, it’s a massive wine by any measure yet carries everything perfectly, with perfumed notes of crème de cassis, incense, flowers, and exotic spice, full-bodied richness, an expansive, mulit-dimensional texture, sweet tannins, and no sensation of weight or heaviness. It’s a monumental bottle of wine that made me want to downgrade every other wine I tasted for this report. It’s bottled only in magnum, so do your best to hold off for 6-7 years (good luck!) and it will keep for 3-4 decades. Bravo to the whole team at Schrader for a truly magical wine.
My notes on the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Old Sparky Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard started with “Wow, what a nose” and finished with a few expletives. Based largely on the T6 Cabernet Sauvignon from To Kolan, with smaller amounts of the RBS, CCS, and Schrader, it’s a massive wine by any measure yet carries everything perfectly, with perfumed notes of crème de cassis, incense, flowers, and exotic spice, full-bodied richness, an expansive, mulit-dimensional texture, sweet tannins, and no sensation of weight or heaviness. It’s a monumental bottle of wine that made me want to downgrade every other wine I tasted for this report. It’s bottled only in magnum, so do your best to hold off for 6-7 years (good luck!) and it will keep for 3-4 decades. Bravo to the whole team at Schrader for a truly magical wine.
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.