Simply fantastic Napa Cabs. Napa and the Northern California wine seen has become for the lack of a better word(s) a made for tourist show. I pine for the old days when you could drive up, have a few glasses of wine WITH the actual wine maker, have a conversation about the challenges of the season for them, and perhaps if you were lucky you might get poured one of their experiments that would never see the inside of a store.
Nowadays its sort of a snooty Disneyland for oenophile's. Crowded, overrated, and simply not worth it.
Schrader is one of the few houses that actually lives up to the hype. Your archetypal cult wine, it combines consistently high scores (always over 97 Points) with limited allocations, and yes a high price point.
The winery has its hands in some of the more notable and historic vineyards in Napa. The well known Beckstoffer To Kalon vineyard (dates back to 1868) provides the grapes for the majority of the wines and they are a blend of modern and historical clones. Thomas Brown is the winemaker and whatever he does there is working.
Given the limited allocation and high quality/scores, the wines are in constant demand. I spend a bit on the waiting list before I received an allocation back in 2010 (A whopping 2 bottles) and since it has grown. Now each year I am offered a six pack of the vintage which can come in at well over $1400 by the time it is taxed and shipped. Its shocking upfront, but if you see the wines on the secondary market they can easily fetch 400+ a bottle. Also over the last two years I have gotten offered a magnum of 'old Sparky" which is their reserve wine.
The wines are built to age for along period of time and with decanting they are enjoyable right after you get them But being patient with good wine pays off (don't try this with two buck chuck) and I have held off opening them, content to let them sit in my cellar and slowly age. I recently opened one of the 2010's from my first allocation.
The 2010 RBS is sourced from the To Kalon vineyard and is 100% Clone 137. This is a bold and complex wine that despite being 8 years out feels like it could store for another 10 at least. One the palate it had a alot of dark fruit, tobacco, and kind of a slightly burnt orange rind (you palate may differ). The mouthfeel was excellent and the finish was long.
The other aspect I like about this House is that they do send reminders that they sell their wines with the intent to consume and NOT for people to speculate. Selling the wine in the aftermarket can result in loss of your allocations. I really like this stance and think it should become the standard. People who love the wine should be able to access it without being held hostage to speculators. read more