Schrader, CCS Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Brought to Charlies in St Helena by new wine friends Mike and Trish. Opened and decanted and tasted prior to dinner along with a 2012 Ark and a 2022 Mowe CS. This wine was lovely and mature and somewhere between its secondary and tertiary phases. It had nice fruit that to me seemed black cherry to medium cherry in nature. It had lovely full nose and went well with a tomahawk steak. 94 as it sits between phases right now. …

2005 vintage

Very dark red, mixed berry nose very prominent right out of bottle, a surprising molasses type sweetness appears upon first tasting which seems to dissipate after a couple of hours. More dark berry fruit, leather, tobacco, and a touch of wood on palate. Drank over 4 hours and was enjoyable to the last drop. Served with a Lobels Prime Grade rib roast for Christmas dinner.

2005 vintage

Wine is at it's and not getting any better drink away. Color was medium ruby with ever so slight light orange around the edges. Aromas of red fruits and tertiaries, water rock and moss are equal parts. Also vanilla, leather, and cedar. Silky smooth tannins at the back of the mouth with black fruits of raspberries and cassie at the front of the palette. Nicely balanced. Great wine

2005 vintage

brought by the score whore, this hundy was placed as the last wine of the line-up and it was a smart move, allowing me to enjoy its brown sugar and porty character in a different frame of mind, as a kind of desert. There's no denying the opulent richness of the red (raspberry jam) character fruit, but there's also no denying there's considerable residual sugar in this wine. Tannins are quite resolved and the patriarch accordingly predicts the following narrow …

2005 vintage

Popped and poured. This is terrific. Out of the box everything is in place. Black and purple fruit, tobacco and truffle on the nose. The wine is rich, full bodied but has very good energy, acidity and balance. Deep, complex and long finish.

2005 vintage

This was very good , and became even better after 20-30 mins open. Rich California red, not over the top, easy to drink. Very high end character.

2005 vintage

Opened to have with Christmas dinner, hoping/expecting for something close to perfection. Instead I got a good wine, but nothing great. The depth and concentration I have had with other Schraders wasn’t there. Soft and ultimately uninteresting, the wine got worse, not better, with air.

2005 vintage

Notes of dark fruit, cooked cherries, cedar, vanilla, tar, nice soft integrated tannins, long finish, hints of honey butterscotch.

2004 vintage

Cristal and Fontodi Flaccianello plus Riverain and Schrader (served blind) (Foretti's in Corona Del Mar) : Served blind. Carol Schrader brought this to our dinner, with a smile too as she has a deep connection to the wine. I believe she said this was the first CCS made, and it has some of the Las Piedras blended into it. This was richer styled with good acid and lots of blue fruit (which is what I found as well on the …

2004 vintage

This elegant and layered Cabernet is incredible right now, offering fruit and structure in impeccable balance. Garnet in color; medium in body; inviting aromas of boysenberry, cocoa powder, graphite, and bay leaf. Flavors of blackberry, espresso, gravel, and eucalyptus, with silky tannins and a classy finish. 14.6% alcohol. More subdued and nuanced than a 2012 I had recently, this wine is well within its drinking window now. Decant at least two hours. Watch for sediment, of which there is plenty.

2005 vintage

Medium plus body, lather and vanilla with berries all nicely integrated. A long finish and a bit acid still, long life ahead...

2005 vintage

Wine Spectator newbies; 10/18/2018-10/20/2018 (Marriott Marquis) : Very fruity. Again darker fruits. Again quite intense. Like a jam almost. But there is some acidity that keeps it more in balance. A bit alcoholic towards the finish. Again a wine that is really quite you when you think about it. Could go for a lot longer.

2005 vintage

A remarkable wine. Even my Cabernet-disliking wife loved it.

2005 vintage

Stable from our first taste 03/02/15. No flaws. Minimal sediment. Minimal rim variation. Classic California cabernet. Low tannin and acid. Medium alcohol and long finish. Ready to drink and plenty of bottle life left.

2004 vintage

This wine made the birthday boy very happy but just too ripe and pruney to me with no real shape. Maybe it's just me, but relative to auction value, I should have let others enjoy. That said, the birthday boy loved it.

2004 vintage

Who can tell the difference between this or any other Schrader, short of maybe Old Sparky? I HATE the business plan, as I think I have mentioned in other notes. 04 can be a Napa roller coaster ride. Schrader seems to have done better than most, but it is a vintage that was on the precipice of big ass going to Kardashian mode. An 04 RBS drunk Christmas 2013 was fresher and had more pleasing fruit. There isn't enough acid …

2004 vintage

Lovely wine and drinking great. Ripe silky sweet red cherry, strawberries, and raspberry flavors. Nice depth of flavors and framed nicely by well integrated acidity and fine tannins. In its prime, but good life ahead.

2004 vintage

Delicious black cherry and cassis aromas and flavors with layers of mocha, spice, and oak. Well resolved tannins on the long finish.

2005 vintage

Blackberry juice color, showing density yet not a syrupy glass feel. Intoxicating nose of perhaps one of the most concentrated blackberry, blueberry, kirsch, and black currant straight from the vine picked aroma I have ever experienced, the purity is astounding for a wine with 12 years in the bottle. With airtime slowly revealing secondary hints of marmalade, molasses, following by tertiary elements of forest, shrub and moss. The palate continues along the same vein. However time in glass leads to …

2004 vintage

Zachys Power of Packaging - Jan 2016 (Smith & Wollensky (48th & 3rd Ave)) : Nice to try this earlier in the day (it was the last wine two nights ago and so palette fatigue and general fatigue had certainly set in). I'm amazed at how open and expressive and bright and yet relatively young tasting it is. Decent tannic backbone that still holds the wine together. Strong and deep in the red fruit. Happy camper drinking this (would have …

2005 vintage

Zachys Schrader Dinner (Bouley) : A pretty fabulous end to the night and showed that indeed this wine can do ten years and still be wonderful. Full out lusciousness in a glass. Even held it's own against the Old Sparky's (was poured next to those). Lovely.

2005 vintage

Still holding on to its deep color, the wine is lush, fresh and opulent in character. The sweet boysenberries are dripping with dark chocolate, the cherries are more like cherry liqueur and the long, intense finish keeps on going. The wine does not seem to have aged a bit. The only minor drawback is the small touch of heat in the finish.

2005 vintage

This wine holds its own. Great bottle of wine. Coravined this about 6 months ago and still has the fresh feel of a new opened bottle. Loads of dark red fruits and berries. Long finish and tannins have softened. Wish I had a few bottles!

2005 vintage

Our first taste. Complex nose. Lots of structure. Great flavors. Low acid and tannin. Medium alcohol and medium finish. Certainly, ready to drink!

2004 vintage

Dinner at Elite (Elite Chinese Restaurant - Los Angeles, CA) : My first Schrader. It's big, and has a lot of powerful dark fruits packed in there. Definitely a glossy wine that is filled with lots of rich and sweet fruit. Balanced though, and with a few more years some secondary tones may emerge from the big fruit.

2005 vintage

Drank twice via Coravin. Great both times with Debragga. This is a modern style big cab with lots of berries.

2004 vintage

This wine was incredible. We were having a casual dinner party on our second or third bottle of wine with two other couples and the email from Schrader came out announcing Parkers 10 year retrospective and only 100 pointer in the group (not this wine). So we decided to open my last 2004 on a lark. We popped and poured and should have decanted as the last sip was the best. Dark purple in color with a nose of blackberry …

2004 vintage

Just great up and down every scale and factor you can reference; last of my three bottles, sadly

2004 vintage

Look at me ma I'm drinking cali cab! Another impressive Schrader. Needed about 2 hours in the decanter to integrate the alcohol on the finish, but once it did, it was a very nice drink. It had a weightlessness to it that I was not expecting as it wasn't nearly as big and bold on the initial attack but at the same time had a deep dark core of sweet fruit that lingered on the finish.

2004 vintage

Unbelievable nose, dark fruit, sweet blackberry, plum, blueberry and some sweet oak. Palate is along the same lines, very good texture, although overall it's a bit light in weight. This is a great wine but with a little more weight would be upper 90's for sure. Give it some time, as after 5 hours of in bottle decanting it did put on some weight, this is a similar characteristic I've found with every single Schrader I've had.

2005 vintage

Catching up on notes from way back. Big, bold and brilliant like every Schrader I've tasted. Pure and thick blue fruit, currant and cassis. Well-integrated toasty oak with floral coffee notes and mocha on the 40-second finish.

2004 vintage

raw beef, a hint of brown sugar, savory spices and a little raspberries. the palate is full with raspberries, chocolate and cinnamon. still a little tannic but very nice

2005 vintage

Bday Wine Night; 5/24/2013-5/25/2013 : Decanted 12+ hours. Leftovers rebottled and recorked overnight. TN is from the next day. 14.6% ABV Massive, sweet nose that explodes from the glass. Still looking quite deep purple color to me. Layers of aromas and flavors here. Concentrated ripe plums and dark raspberry, Napa dirt, baking spices, black currant, hint of black olive... Really smooth, silky tannins, but still really grip. This has at least another decade on it, probably more. This edged out …

2005 vintage

Absolutely fantastic bottle of wine and in great drinking shape right now. I have never had a bad experience with Schrader wines. Finish was out of this world long lasting about 50 seconds to 1 minute! Color was deep dark red, almost black looking. The taste had lots of fruits, cassis, tobacco and lots of rock and earth to it! Paired with Del Frisco's steak and seafood. Most of my relatives drank the bottle because it was so good!

2005 vintage

Phenominal

2004 vintage

An absolutely delicious, fruit-forward NAPA cab, its complexity obvious at first taste upon the opening of the bottle, its finish long. A powerful amalgam of red and black fruits after an hour's aeration; evolving over during the next three days to a sheer smoothness, with ever so slight a touch of spice, the fruitiness having subsided, but not the complexity. Everything it's touted to be, a sure winner for those who enjoy mammoth California cabs, as I certainly do from …

2004 vintage

This is an excellent wine, just entering its drinking window, IMHO. Great fruit, even better spice, pepper, leather, etc., with a long finish. Great stuff.

2005 vintage

Good but not great Schrader -- an enjoyable wine, but later years clearly show improvement.

2005 vintage

Heat damaged. Unfortunately wine retailed went out of business. My lesson for buying wines at TN retailers.

2005 vintage

Indira's Birthday at Donovans

2005 vintage

wineberg welcoming me to DC (Vidalia, Washington) : very much layered and super deep. tons of different berries, raspberries, bluebrries and over ripe blackberries. underlying all that is a layer of sweetness, white chocolate and licorice. very nice

2004 vintage

Dinner at Vidalia with PinkMoonWinery (Vidalia in DC) : Had at great wine dinner with PinkMoon. Decanted and sat for about an hour before we got into it. Huge CA fruit forward Cab. Very ripe dark fruit, boysenberries, cassis...definitely a very ripe, chewy style. Very smooth tannins, but maybe could have used a bit more for balance. Interesting to have this next to a SQN Syrah...

2004 vintage

Schrader wines never disappoint, Absolutely complex with gripping tannins and just a mouthful of great jammy quality wine! I have come to expect this with Schrader wines and this did not let me down at all. Finish was easily over one minute in length. Savored every drop of this wine and just kept getting better and better throughout the evening. Truly a classic wine and glad that I have more to experience this gem again. You know you have a …

2004 vintage

Some licorice on nose, very rounded and smooth, tannins well settled, black fruits on palate, medium finish, surprisingly subtle given the huge bombastic rep. Well done.

2004 vintage

LOTS OF DEEP BERRY FRUITS OOZING OUT OF THE GLASS, BLACKBERRIES, CURRENTS, BLACK CHERRIES WITH A TOUCH OF LICORICE. VERY COMPLEX WINE WITH A LONG FINISH.

2004 vintage

Did not take any formal notes as I was out to dinner with friends. What an incredible bottle...these 04 Schraders are drinking very nice right now. Terrific nose and gobs of ripe red fruit with seamless texture and a long, smooth finish. For how good it was, I'd still say it was a slight notch below the 04 Schrader RBS bottling that I had last week. Though it's tough to take anything away from this spectacular wine.

2004 vintage

Ripe, big, plush, big fruit, lengthy finish, beautiful nose, spectacular.

2004 vintage

A very good, but not really exceptional high-end Napa cab. I love the big (and expensive) plush Napa style, and this is a good example. Grape and red fruit notes, but a bit of a burn on the finish. This was my first bottle of Schrader (this stuff is tough to find and expensive!) and I liked it a lot, but I think part of it's mystique might be due to its rarity. I think Caymus is making wines that …

2004 vintage

Red/black/blue fruits smooth and balanced. Even through finish. 4 hour decant but really needed overnight. Cheating alcohol with cool temperature on serving.

2004 vintage

decanted 2 hours prior. outstanding wine, perhaps just a tad less powerfully centered than my last taste. companion drinkers preferred this over the 97 phelps insignia, but merely splitting hairs between 2 terrific wines, with two quite different profiles, e.g. 100% cab v. bordeaux blend. plenty of oak, and not for people who can't (or won't) appreciate that big, bold, napa cabs can't be deliciously tamed by balance and otherworldly fruit.

2004 vintage

Are you sure?

Schrader, CCS Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Vintages

No vintages

Community Reviews