99pts James Suckling
Blackcurrant with lime skin and ink pot in the nose. Very perfumed. Lead pencil. Full-bodied with chewy yet rounded edges to the tannins. Juicy and tannically dry. Reminds me of old BV Private Reserve from the 1960s.
98pts Jeb Dunnuck
Readers looking for one of the most opulent, sexiest wines in the vintage should jump on the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, another undeniably brilliant wine from this team that has a kaleidoscope-like array of red, blue, and black fruits as well as flowery incense, smoke tobacco, and spring flowers. It's full-bodied, broad, expansive, and flawlessly balanced. It's impossible to find an expression of Cabernet Sauvignon like this outside of To Kalon. Drink this thrilling 2021 over the coming 20-25 years.
From a Legendary Vineyard
To Kalon: \TO ka∙lon\ noun: the ideal of physical and moral beauty especially as conceived by the philosophers of classical Greece.
It was also the ancient Greeks who first said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If that is true, then To Kalon Vineyard is aptly named and considered by countless people over many decades as the preeminent vineyard of Napa Valley. Realm has been fortunate to work with exceptional fruit from Beckstoffer To Kalon since we began making wine in 2002. Comprised of a portion of the historical To Kalon vineyard first planted to grapes in 1868, the 89-acre parcel was acquired by Andy Beckstoffer in 1993 and replanted using close spacing and modern trellising. Bordering Highway 29 and stretching west nearly to the Mayacamas Mountain range in the Oakville AVA, Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard sits on a vast alluvial plain formed millions of years ago during a period of immense geologic activity. The site is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon with several rows of Cabernet Franc at its westernmost edge. In 2007 the property was placed under a land conservation easement that forever prohibits non-agricultural development.
Beckstoffer To Kalon grapes are made available to a small number of boutique wine producers who fashion them into some of the highest quality wines Napa Valley has to offer. “The wines from To Kalon are so dense, so opulent,” says Winemaker Benoit Touquette. “When you look at it, it’s hard to put a finger on what makes this vineyard so special. But in the wine, its beauty is unmistakable.” Realm’s Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from several blocks planted to Clones 4 and 337. The wine is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
