2018 Schrader Cellars CCS Cabernet Sauvignon, Beckstoffer To Kalon, Oakville

100 points, Jeb Dunnuck. Four bottles available.

Schrader's CCS is one hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon from Beckstoffer To Kalon, the Oakville parcel that most people would name if you asked them for the single most valuable stretch of vineyard in California. Fred Schrader founded the label in 1998 and Thomas Rivers Brown has made every vintage since. The 2018 is a perfect-score wine from one of the decade's best Napa vintages.

What CCS stands for

Not a clone code, whatever you may read elsewhere. Fred Schrader has said plainly that the letters are his wife's initials: Carol Colesworthy Schrader. Schrader's bottlings are named this way rather than by cuvée, which is why the labels look like a private code.

Where this bottle came from

Bottles at this level reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought on allocation and stored properly. Every rare bottle is inspected before we take it and stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands.

In the glass

Dunnuck's note gives crème de cassis, smoked tobacco, white flowers, crushed stone and truffle, and calls it a rare mix of power, structure and elegance. Wine Spectator found lush cassis, plum and boysenberry compote over sweet tobacco and licorice root. It is dense and long, and it has the acidity to carry it.

Critic scores

• 100 points · Jeb Dunnuck
• 97 points · The Wine Advocate
• 97 points · Wine Spectator
• 96 points · James Suckling

The details

• Producer: Schrader Cellars, winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown
• Vineyard: Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard
• Appellation: Oakville, Napa Valley, California
• Vintage: 2018
• Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
• Format: 750ml
• Drinking window: now through 2040, per Wine Spectator

Why To Kalon matters

To Kalon was planted in 1868 by H.W. Crabb and is the oldest continuously farmed great vineyard in Napa. Andy Beckstoffer's parcel is farmed for a small number of producers who bottle it by name, and the fruit is sold by the price of the finished bottle rather than by the ton. Schrader's contract for Beckstoffer fruit ran through roughly 2021, which puts this 2018 squarely inside the era collectors chase.

Serving and pairing

Decant two hours ahead and serve at 62 to 64°F. Dry-aged beef, venison, or a well-marbled ribeye. Give it air.

Four bottles, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. Browse more rare and limited vintages.