Carter Cellars

A well-known critic once described our wines as “swoon-inducing.” While we’re not sure exactly where this quality originates -perhaps in the earth and sun of our low yield vineyards, or in the hands of our masterful blenders and winemakers -whatever it is, it gives Carter Cellars wines the ability to stir the passions and overwhelm the senses.

From the small stressed berries on our original block on the Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard, the 2016 ‘La Verdad’ is a bold wine that remains balanced and graceful. Showing a strikingly dark hue, the nose emits a show-stopping rush of youthful blueberry and black fruits. The first taste is a pleasurable attack on the senses, bursting with concentrated blue and black fruits mixed with crushed rock, while the underlying minerality and structure result in a muscular but well-balanced Cabernet. A full-bodied mid-palate reveals finely integrated tannins that lift the overall backbone of the wine and ends with a decadent fruit-driven finish that remains both layered and textured.

Carter Cellars first vintage was in 1998 sourcing grapes from the steeply terraced Coliseum Block of the Hossfeld Vineyard. In continuing to source wine from top Napa vineyards Mark and Nils made a svelte Fortuna Block Cabernet from the ancient red volcanic soils of the Fortuna Vineyard in 1999. In 2000 Carter Cellars began a long and deeply rewarding relationship with the most iconic vineyard in the western hemisphere: the Beckstoffer portion of the original To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville. Thus began the rise of the famed and highly rated Carter Cellars Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet, a wine that to this day continues to receive top scores from critics worldwide.