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Cabernet Sauvignon · Oakville
99 points from Wine Spectator, and only 525 cases made.
“This seamless, driven, coiled red manages to marry lush notes of black currant, blackberry and fig reduction with burlier accents of walnut, tobacco and warm gravel. Shows an undeniable inner tension but needs considerable time to unfurl. Just when you think you've got this figured out, a bolt of cast iron emerges, adding a vibrato echo of terroir that stamps the superlong finish. This is a special wine.”
“MacDonald's 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon offers up what its devotees have come to expect from previous vintages. Compelling scents of black cherries, loamy earth and dried spices (cinnamon, clove, allspice) are on the nose. The palate is medium to full-bodied, coiled, tight and poised, with a texture somewhere between silk and velvet. It's concentrated, long and has a savory finish, with hints of anise and dark chocolate. This definitely needs time, with the potential to reach perfection in the future.”
“AG - The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is dense and potent but also quite structured. Dark fruit, plum, graphite, incense, licorice and lavender are some of the many notes that grace the 2021. Silky, plush red cherry, mocha, rose petal and spice unfurl with time in the glass. This a decidedly mid-weight wine with firm, chalky tannins. Graeme MacDonald backed off extractions a bit in 2021, which suggests a drive towards greater freshness. This is also the first vintage made at the Mending Wall facility, which is quite a bit less cramped than at Kongsgaard, where all the previous wines were made. The 2021 saw 38 days on skins and 22 months in barrel. It is an absolutely gorgeous wine, but it is also more reticent than most vintages at this stage.”
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MacDonald Vineyards
2021 Cabernet Sauvignon, OakvilleMacDonald To-Kalon Cabernet MacDonald is a collaboration between brothers Alex and Graeme MacDonald. And though the label is new, their debut vintage was a 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon & their family roots in Napa go back to 1954. That was the year their great-grandparents bought a modest retirement property in Oakville that came with a vineyard called To-Kalon. After replanting the vineyard, the couple started selling grapes to Robert Mondavi, who used them first for his family's Charles Krug wines, then for his own Robert Mondavi label.
Today To-Kalon is considered one of the most outstanding terroirs in Napa Valley, and many of Napa's most prestigious wines used grapes sourced from To-Kalon. The first vintages of MacDonald received highly complimentary reviews. Vinous wrote this about the 2010: in this vintage, the first commercial release, brothers Alex and Graeme MacDonald made a wine that has no problem sitting alongside Napa Valley's long established stars. This is a fabulous showing.
One bottle, 750 ml, of the 2021 vintage.
Local pickup is by appointment only. If you choose pickup at checkout, please email leo@cultwine.com to schedule your pickup.
Winemaker Graeme MacDonald, at MacDonald Vineyards, owned by Alex & Graeme Macdonald & Family.
Yes. You must be 21 years of age or older to purchase.
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