Dr Crane Vineyard (and what about Salvestrin winery?)

Going through threads and articles on the To Kalon vineyards, it’s history, legal battles, etc - made we wonder about other “famous” vineyards that I’ve purchased from.

I’ve bought Myriad & Realm wines with grapes from the Dr Crane vineyard. Pricey. Beckstoffer’s website lists other wine makers - and their superlative scores - that purchase grapes from his vineyards, including his Dr Crane parcel. It’s a big name list, also including Alpha Omega, Bevan, etc.

It appears that Salvestrin Winery (which to be honest, I’d never heard of before) also has a part of the historic Dr Crane vineyard, and indeed they do sell Dr Crane vineyard specific wines - but at a significantly lower cost.

Anyone know much about Salvestrin? Sounds like a family business, and I like that aspect. How are the wines? How do they compare to a Realm, a Myriad Dr Crane, etc? Is there a big difference between the Dr Crane grapes from the Beckstoffer vs Salvestrin parcels? Is this an example of how much great winemakers like Benoit Touquette and Mike Smith bring to the mix, or is Salvestrin simply under-appreciated? A search on this site didn’t show a single thread discussing this winery.

I don’t know the answers to any of this - hence my inquiry!

This does not exactly answer your question…I also know ~nothing about Salvestrin, but just had their $30ish regular cabernet, 2016, and it was pretty good…

It’s a great little vineyard. They do some Italian varietals, I am a big fan of their retaggio.

I have had the 3D a couple times and enjoy it very much. Would put it in the middle of new and old school Cali cab.

If I’m not mistaken Beckstoffer owns all of Dr Crane. The way they got to sell at a lower price is by not mentioning Beckstoffer on the label.

That’s not my impression from some articles - and they sell Dr Crane specific vineyard wines. My understanding is that both Salvestrin Winery and Beckstoffer own pieces of the original Dr Crane property.

You’re right. They have about 12 acres planted to Cab, Cab Franc, Sangiovese, Merlot and Petite Sirah on the other side of the high school from Beckstoffer Dr crane.

I had some of their Estate cab from the 90s and at the time was good. I wonder when they added the Dr Crane on the label? First I can see from CT pictures in 2012.

Someone gave me a bottle as a gift and I didn’t care for it. I wouldn’t put it the same discussion or level of quality with the likes of Bevan/AO/Myriad. The ‘Dr Crane’ on the label can be misleading when comparing to Beckstoffer but to their credit they own some historic property. Haven’t tried any of their other wines.

The Salvestrin family has owned their block of the original Dr. Crane property since the early 1930s.

Salvestrin 2016 Dr. Crane Cabernet for $70 is a great buy considering some other wineries charge 4 times the price for their wine from relatively the same plot of land. Goes to show buying land in 1930 brings down the costs of making the wine [snort.gif]

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Which vintage did you try? I have a lone bottle of the 2012 Reserve ‘Three D’ Dr. Crane. Not planning on opening for a while but would love to know which wine/vintage you tried.

It appears that Salvestrin Winery (which to be honest, I’d never heard of before)

A local wine shop was selling their base bottling Napa 14/15 vintage for $30 a bottle. Seems worth a try at that price. 15 Crane was $60 which also seems like a good deal.

What’s in a name? It kinda comes down to a few things like block location within the vineyard property, clonal selection, farming practices, winemaking…

GIII, do you think all the wine is the same? Is it ever even close? You have blocks in a slope, on valley floor, abutting a creek… Same goes for Dr Crane.

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I had the 17.