2018 Heritage Clone

“The profile of the wine has a richness and brightness and red-fruit jamminess, which is balanced by this beautiful savory component.” — Carol Schrader

Vintage 2018
Alcohol 14.5%
Vineyard To Kalon Vineyard
Appellation Oakville, Napa Valley
Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
Clone Pure Clone 31
Cooperage Aged 20 months in rare Darnajou French oak barrels
Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown

Tasting Notes

The inaugural 2018 vintage of the Schrader Heritage Clone is bursting with ripe black and purple fruit. Hailing from the N2S block in To Kalon Vineyard® , this wine is dense and bright with an excellent palate and fine-grained tannins. We are excited to see how this wine develops with age in bottle, as it is promising already.
Accolades

97+ Pts. “This is the very first vintage of this new label for Schrader. True to Schrader form, the wine is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a single block in the southern part of Mondavi’s section of To Kalon vineyard. The “Heritage Clone,” a.k.a. clone 39, is pretty much exclusive to Mondavi To Kalon, with the exception of some cuttings Robert Mondavi may have given out. Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown noted that this clone produces very small bunches and tiny berries, equating to super intense fruit. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Mondavi Heritage Clone To Kalon Vineyard was aged in 100% new Darnajou and Taransaud French oak barrels for 18 months. Deep garnet-purple in color, it sings of stewed blueberries, plum preserves, Chinese five spice and fragrant earth, giving way to hints of beef drippings, iron ore, espresso, tobacco leaf and dried roses. Medium-bodied, it has a firm, chewy texture and loads of bright, lively freshness lifting the densely packed berry preserves layers, finishing very long and very spicy. This is certainly a singular style—somewhat atypical for the 2018 vintage, but nonetheless compelling.”
— Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate
...
Heritage Clone Accolades
- 2022 To Kalon Vineyard Heritage Clone —
  View Wine
- 2021 To Kalon Vineyard Heritage Clone — 98 WS, 97 JD, 97 WA
  
  98 Pts “This shows the heft and scale of the bigger wines in this vintage but adds an element of floral lift and sparkly energy. Its boysenberry, fig and mulberry preserve core is dotted with mouthwatering details of iris, licorice snap and lavender. Offers a gorgeous mouthfeel, with an overriding velvety texture offset by hints of crumpled violet. Drink now through 2050.”
  — James Moleworth, Wine Spectator
  97 Pts “All Clone 39 Cabernet Sauvignon and also a release that was first released in 2019, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon To Kalon Vineyard Heritage Clone offers up a dark, concentrated, powerful, structured style that's loaded with ripe black fruits, graphite, iron, and hints of scorched earth. It's incredibly complete and balanced on the palate, with full-bodied richness, lots of building tannins yet fine tannins, rocking mid-palate depth, and a great, great finish. Give it 3-5 years if you can and it will evolve for over two decades.”
  — Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com
  97 Pts “The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Mondavi Heritage Clone To Kalon Vineyard comes from a single block of vines planted to what has become known as clone 31. If there is any complaint here, it's that the vibrant raspberry and mixed cherries are just too pure. Yes, the fruit is awesome (hence my enthusiastic rating), but the non-fruit complexities seem limited to modest dried-spice nuances. Perhaps more will emerge over time. Medium to full-bodied, this is exceptionally silky and elegant in the context of the 2021 vintage, finishing fresh and lively on the finish.”
  — The Wine Advocate
  View Wine
- 2019 To Kalon Vineyard Heritage Clone — 100 JS, 98+ WA, 98+ JD, 97 WS
  
  100 Pts “This is so exotic and exciting, with crushed blackcurrant, cassis, raspberry and tangerine aromas that follow through to very rough, silky tannins that fill your mouth. It goes on for minutes. Intense flavors at the finish, yet it's linear and so long and seamless. Crunchy. Amazing wine. Drinkable now, but better after 2025.”
  — James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com
  98+ Pts “Another relatively new addition to the Schrader lineup, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Mondavi Heritage Clone To Kalon Vineyard is all Clone 31 (not Clone 39, as previously reported by RPWA). It's expressive and aromatic on the nose, offering up hints of tobacco, mint and sage, plus floral, spicy notes but also plenty of red berries and vanilla (it's aged 18 months in new French oak). Full-bodied, tannic and firmly built, it's another Schrader wine that should really benefit from cellaring.”
  — Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate
  98+ Pts “My notes on the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon To Kalon Vineyard Heritage Clone started with a big "Wow," and it's clearly a structured, serious, incredibly impressive 2019. Giving up plenty of cassis and assorted black and blue fruits, it has a distinct sense of minerality as well as classic Cabernet tobacco, lead pencil, and tobacco leaf nuances. With bright acidity, building tannins, and a concentrated, massive, backward mouthfeel, it needs to be forgotten for 4-5 years and should have decades of prime drinking.”
  — Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com
  97 Pts “Delivers seriously gorgeous fruit, with plum puree, cassis and black cherry páte de fruit notes that are compressed together without losing their clarity and definition, while licorice snap, violet and apple wood notes form the frame. Reveals an iron note that drives underneath on the finish, imbuing everything with latent energy and drive. Big, but in an elephant-balancing-on-a-ball manner; gotta tip the cap. Best from 2023 through 2038.”
  — James Molesworth, Wine Spectator
  View Wine
- 2018 To Kalon Vineyard Heritage Clone — 97+ WA, 96 WS
  
  97+ Pts. “This is the very first vintage of this new label for Schrader. True to Schrader form, the wine is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a single block in the southern part of Mondavi’s section of To Kalon vineyard. The “Heritage Clone,” a.k.a. clone 39, is pretty much exclusive to Mondavi To Kalon, with the exception of some cuttings Robert Mondavi may have given out. Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown noted that this clone produces very small bunches and tiny berries, equating to super intense fruit. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Mondavi Heritage Clone To Kalon Vineyard was aged in 100% new Darnajou and Taransaud French oak barrels for 18 months. Deep garnet-purple in color, it sings of stewed blueberries, plum preserves, Chinese five spice and fragrant earth, giving way to hints of beef drippings, iron ore, espresso, tobacco leaf and dried roses. Medium-bodied, it has a firm, chewy texture and loads of bright, lively freshness lifting the densely packed berry preserves layers, finishing very long and very spicy. This is certainly a singular style—somewhat atypical for the 2018 vintage, but nonetheless compelling.”
  — Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate
  96 Pts. “There’s a distinct sassafras note buried in this version, wrapped in waves of cassis, warmed plum reduction and boysenberry compote flavors. Melted licorice and roasted apple wood provide a frame for it all, with the sassafras hint adding lift and energy through the finish. A big wine. Best from 2022 through 2038.”
  — James Molesworth, Wine Spectator
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

After a wet and cool winter, both bud break and flowering got off to a later-than-normal start. Summer brought nice, even temperatures with very few heat spikes, resulting in great phenolic development in the grapes and even ripening across all our vineyard sites. Due to the lower-than-normal summer temperatures, the grapes enjoyed long, steady ripening. This allowed for wonderful sugar development while maintaining structure. Once in barrel, the wines showed prodigious depth and incredible character that wonderfully displayed the benefits of slow, even ripening. A winemaker’s dream, the 2018 vintage has produced wines that will provide exceptional pleasure upon release and age gracefully in your cellar.

All Heritage Clone Vintages

2022

2021

2019

Previous 2018 GIII

Next 2018 LPV

2018 Heritage Clone

Tasting Notes

Accolades

Vineyard

Vintage