2004 Schrader Old Sparky Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Old Sparky is made from clones 4, 6 and 337, the same as the Schrader, and comes from the Beckstoffer To Kalon vineyard as well. It tips the scales at the highest alcohol for them – 14.7%. It was aged 20 months in 80% Darnajou and 20% Taransaud and there are only 100 cases. This is a spectacular wine that is very sexy and forward, with great creme de cassis, and blackberry fruit intermixed with hints of coffee, unsmoked cigar tobacco, licorice and graphite. Full-bodied and layered, it is a sensational wine to drink now and over the next 20-25 years. ||Winemaker Thomas Brown said it was easy to remember 2004 as a “hot and hotter vintage, especially the first 10-12 days of September.” The result was a tiny crop due to the 105-108 degree temperatures. The tiny productions included 100 cases of Old Sparky, 125 cases of RBS, 175 cases of CCS and 250 cases of the three-digit Cabernet Sauvignon Schrader. All these performed spectacularly well in my tastings, including the only perfect wine of the vintage.||Tel. (707) 942-1540 Wine Advocate.April, 2014