Napa Valley

Friends, I have been in the winegrowing business since as long as I can remember. I am now at the age of 44 years and I can count on both hands the number of times I have coined a vintage as “great,” meaning, that the vintage is of an extent, amount, or intensity above average. When considering greatness of vintages, and I mean this purely from what happened within the vineyard, vintages such as, 1987, 1990, 1997, 1999, 2007, and 2012, all come to mind. The common thread in al of these vintages was consistency throughout the growing season that led to near perfect, and above average, crop sets in Bordeaux varieties. And, now we can include vintage 2018 as one of the greats!

The 2018 vintage features a beautiful purple hue that sheets the glass indicating a full-bodied, concentrated beauty! Perfumed aromatics of clove, barrel vanillin, black cherries and currants fill the senses with anticipation. The palate is expansive and full bodied with fine grained tannins and a lengthy finish that lingers for minutes. There is no pocket of the mouth unfilled or escaping this wine’s sumptuous composition. Anticipated maturity is 2024 to 2039.

In The Vineyard

Located north of the town of Yountville in the Oakville AVA, Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper was originally part of a large piece of land owned by George C Yount, from whom the town of Yountville takes its name Purchased by Charles Hopper and given to his daughter, Missouri, in 1877, the land was planted to wine grapes and, as much of the Napa land was at the time, prunes and walnuts. In 1960, the land was purchased by Bruce Kelham as part of the historic Vine Hill Ranch. Purchased by Beckstoffer Vineyards from the Kelham family in 1996, the vineyard is today planted with multiple clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. In 2002 the property was placed under land conservation easement that forever prohibits non-agricultural development.

In the Cellar

The fruit was destemmed into a combination of small stainless steel tank fermenters, concrete vats, and open top barriques. Time on skins lasted 18 to 31 days. The fruit was then separated to “free run” and “light press” fractions. The Cabernet was aged in 100% new, tight grained, French Oak barrels for a lengthy 27 months. We employ a variety of cooperages for Cabernet including Boutes, Sylvain, Taransaud, Gamba and Alain Foquet. 100% native, spontaneous yeast and malolactic fermentations were also key ingredients in the making of this wine. The gentle use of gravity flow winemaking, whenever possible, is carefully exercised throughout the making of this and every Venge wine. Bottled unfiltered.