2015 RBS


True to the greatness of the vintage, the 2015 Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard RBS is an incredibly decadent wine with intense aromas of red and blue fruits mixed with notes of spring blossoms, spice, pencil shavings and savory incense. Flavors of cassis, currants, and crushed plums dance across the palate. The fine tannins and exceptional balance carry through to the silky, smooth finish. With its supple profile, our Schrader RBS is delicious and approachable upon release, and will continue to evolve with cellar aging.

  • Vintage 2015
  • Alcohol 14.5%
  • Vineyard Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard
  • Appellation Oakville, Napa Valley
  • Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
  • Clone Pure Clone 337
  • Cooperage Aged 20 months in rare Darnajou French oak barrels
  • Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown
  • Tasting Notes

    True to the greatness of the vintage, the 2015 Schrader RBS is an incredibly decadent wine with intense aromas of red and blue fruits mixed with notes of spring blossoms, spice, pencil shavings and savory incense. Flavors of cassis, currants, and crushed plums dance across the palate. The fine tannins and exceptional balance carry through to the silky, smooth finish. With its supple profile, our Schrader RBS is delicious and approachable upon release, and will continue to evolve with cellar aging.

  • Accolades

    98+ Pts. “Coming from the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, blocks B1, B2 and E2 planted to clone 337, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon RBS has a very deep purple-black color and is a little reticent to begin, offering glimpses at crushed black berries, black cherries and black currants with touches of cedar chest, pencil lead, dark chocolate and dusty earth with a waft of cinnamon stick. Medium to full-bodied and tautly structured with rock-solid, firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness supporting the muscular fruit, it finishes on a lingering earthy note. Forget this one over the next 4-5 years, and drink it over the next 25+.”
    — Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate

    98 Pts. “All from clone 337 and from three different blocks in the To Kolan Vineyard in Oakville, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard RBS is one of the larger production cuvee they make and there’s just over 1,000 cases in 2015. Crème de cassis, iodine, flowers, huge spice, and loads of dried herbs all emerge from this thrilling effort that has the full-bodied opulence of the vintage front and center. Despite it’s massive about of fruit, it stays light and graceful and is an undeniably sexy wine to drink over the coming two decades.”
    — Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com

  • Vineyard

    First planted in 1868 by viticultural and winemaking icon Hamilton Crabb, To Kalon Vineyard® has long been regarded as the source of Napa Valley’s finest Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Within the prime vineyard blocks, an alluvial fan provides excellent and varied mineral deposits, and the rich soils are filled with marine sediment that gives our wines their distinctive profiles. The vines receive full sun and optimal heat during the day and are cooled by marine fog at night. These conditions allow the Cabernet Sauvignon planted in the vineyard to display its own unique character, and this celebration of individuality is the essence of Schrader ®.

  • Vintage

    The 2015 vintage was radiant with abundant sunshine and consistent weather that yielded an excellent, albeit small, crop of optimally ripe grapes from all of our vineyard sources. Now resting in barrel, the young wines are showing their brilliance with boundless fruit character that harkens back to the acclaimed 2012 vintage. While it is the fruit profile that reflects these wines, it is the underlying firm structure of the 2015 Cabernets that distinguishes them from their siblings. As Thomas remarked, “fruit sweetness will allow these wines to drink really well while young, yet it’s their looming structure that will allow for long aging.”