2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

(14.9% alcohol): Bright, dark ruby-red. Classic Oakville scents of blackcurrant, cola, dark chocolate, graphite and spices, plus suggestions of tobacco leaf and truffle; a bit liqueur-like with extended aeration. Wonderfully silky, seamless, mouthcoating wine with some intriguing tobacco and floral elements leavening the middle palate and giving the wine lift. Evolving gracefully but still young, displaying uncanny sweetness but also the balance and spicy concentration to go on for many years. More complex and less of a fruit bomb than many Napa Valley Cabernets, and a lovely expression of its superior site. Finishes with big, ripe tannins supported by the wine's mid-palate richness.

Deep ruby. Hypnotic bouquet of red and dark berries, cherry-vanilla, Asian spices, cola, dark chocolate, violet oil and smoky minerality. Deep, sappy and pure, offering luscious, mineral-tinged black raspberry, cherry and floral pastille flavors and turning spicier with air. Supple tannins add finishing grip but are overwhelmed by the wine's energetic fruit. The minerality adds cut and urgency to the extremely long, pliant finish. Very sexy stuff.

Not surprisingly, the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard is reminiscent of a great first-growth Pauillac. One of Napa’s true first-growth vineyards, Hobbs obtains just about everything one could want from this extraordinary site. The phenomenal 2008 boasts sweet, juicy creme de cassis, incense, blackberry, toasty oak, licorice and spice box characteristics. Deep and full-bodied with great intensity, freshness, laser-like precision, copious tannin and a 60+ second finish. This cuvee is best forgotten for 2-4 years and drunk over the following three decades. It comes close to rivaling the 2007 and the virtually perfect 2002 (which I recently drank and was blown away by). One of California’s most renowned international wine consultants (he consults with 14 bodegas in Argentina, 3 wineries in Chile and also an estate in Armenia), Paul Hobbs is also a well-known consultant in California with his best-known clients being Merus, Stewart Cellars, Clos Pegase and Constant. All of Paul Hobbs offerings from the Sonoma Coast and the Russian River, which includes an impressive portfolio of Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, will be reviewed in the February, 2011 issue in an extensive report on those viticultural areas. Hobbs produces one Napa Valley Pinot Noir from the Carneros region. The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignons all look sensational. As a group, they come close to rivaling the brilliant success Paul Hobbs enjoyed in 2007. An early look at barrel samples of four 2009s suggests these are very strong efforts. Paul Hobbs did not make a 2009 Stagecoach or Hyde Cabernet because he had not harvested those Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards before the deluge of rain hit in mid-October. He felt there was too much mold in those vineyards. Tel. (707) 824-9879; Fax (707) 824-5843