THE WINE:

2018 was truly a winemakers’ vintage, and the quality of the resulting wines presents itself in bottle. Generous rainfall in February led to a late budbreak and extended flowering period. Beautiful and mild weather throughout spring and summer made for a healthy crop load. With no major heat spikes or weather events in the fall, winemakers were able to patiently wait to pick at optimal fruit ripeness.

TASTING NOTES:

A total knockout in the vintage, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper Vineyard offers a ripe, powerful, full-bodied style as well as textbook Missouri Hopper notes of black, chocolaty fruit, smoked herbs, tobacco, and crushed rocks. This site doesn’t get the recognition it deserves and has produced some awesome wines over the past 4-5 years. With a great mid-palate, loads of pure, opulent fruit, integrated oak, and fine tannins, it dishes up loads of pleasure already yet will keep for 15-20 years or more. Drink date: 2020-2040. Score – 96. (jebdunnuck.com, Jan. 31, 2020)

THE WINERY:

Missouri Hopper, one of Napa’s oldest vineyards, consists of 45 acres on the famed Oakville Bench. Purchased by Charles Hopper and given to his daughter Missouri in 1877, today it is owned by the Beckstoffer family. Wines from this vineyard consistently display a balance of power and refinement.