2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Old Sparky
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Tasting Notes
Old Sparky is Schrader’s top wine, made by blending together the producer’s top barrels – all from To Kalon, Napa’s Grand Cru – and one of the few wines in the range that is also a blend of clones, including 4, 6 and 337. The 2021 is sumptuous, packed full of juicy blue and black berry fruit, with brambly undertones. It’s incredibly intense with firm and savoury, corduroy tannins that frame the fruit, with surprising freshness given its immense concentration.
Critic Scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
This elite wine in the Schrader lineup is a selection of the best barrels from three cabernet clones planted in the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville. Ultra ripe in flavor, creamy in texture, with tannins that are soft at first but firm up on the finish. Generous in chocolate, black cherries, blueberries and those broad, melted tannins. Very full-bodied at 15.5% alcohol, but it has inherent acidity for balance. Tasted from a magnum. Drinkable now, but best from 2030.
A best-barrel selection and blend chosen and made by Thomas Rivers Brown, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Old Sparky Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard essentially takes the characters of the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard bottling and ratchets up the intensity. Raspberries, blackberries and black cherries cascade over a base of deep Oakville loam and dried spices. It's full-bodied, rich, concentrated and almost creamy in texture, finishing lush and long. Bottled in magnum.
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Old Sparky is all Cabernet Sauvignon that's 50% from the D2 block that made the T6 Cuv e (this is clone 6) and the equal parts from RBS and Schrader releases. Released only in magnum, it reveals a dense purple hue as well as incredible aromatics of red, blue, and black fruits interwoven with graphite, a liqueur of rocks like minerality, and spring flowers. It's a killer bottle of wine that offers full-bodied richness, a deep, powerful mid-palate, incredible tannins, and a finish that won't quit. This beauty is going to blow you away anytime over the coming 25-30 years. It's heavenly stuff.
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.