H.W.C. Cabernet Sauvignon, To Kalon Vineyard Company 2019 75cl
The initials stand for H.W. Crabb, the nineteenth-century grower who first named the To Kalon vineyard. This is single-vineyard Napa Cabernet at its most serious — 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a single clonal selection within To Kalon, and the 2019 was awarded a perfect 100 points by James Suckling.
To Kalon in Oakville is hallowed ground for Napa Cabernet, and the To Kalon Vineyard Company bottles this from vines with a direct lineage to Robert Mondavi's original plantings. 2019 was a near-ideal Napa vintage — a long, even growing season that gave ripeness and structure in equal measure, exactly the conditions a wine like this needs.
The nose is dense and layered: dark chocolate and cassis over subtle wood, with dark loam, Asian spice, violet and a tobacco thread adding complexity. The palate is full-bodied, velvety and complete, driven by black raspberry and cassis of remarkable depth. The finish is, in Suckling's word, endless — raspberry, boysenberry and blackcurrant rolling on and on.
At £249.99 this is collector-level Napa Cabernet, the kind of bottle you buy for provenance and longevity as much as the drinking. It's magnificent now with a long decant, but it has decades ahead of it. Cellar it if you can bear to.
How to Serve
Serve at 16–18°C in a large Bordeaux glass. Decant two to three hours ahead when young, and give it your full attention.
Where to Drink It
Scott's in Mayfair for a landmark dinner. Wiltons on Jermyn Street for the grand tradition. Or Bibendum for a considered, unhurried evening.
Food Pairings
A dry-aged chateaubriand, carved at the table, is the pairing this wine deserves. For something gamier, roast venison with a red-wine reduction.
