I have not had a chance to sit down and taste wines from each Beckstoffer vineyard (i.e. To Kalon, Dr. Crane, Bourn, George III, Las Piedras etc) side by side to understand and taste the differences.
I am sure this has been asked many times but with taking out differences between vintages, how would one describe the key different characteristics (taste, smell and color) between the different vineyards?
Since two of my top 5 favorite vineyards in Napa are LasP and Crane, having drank many vintages from several winemakers over the years, I’ll throw in my $0.02 in…
To me, LasP exhibits a graphite, mineral/rock component with dark black and blue fruits.
Crane also shows some mineral notes but the fruit seems to be much more on the forefront than it’s partner in crime a couple hundred yards away.
For specific wines, I love what Benoit Touquette (Fait Main) does with LasP, and what Sam Kaplan (Memento Mori) crafts with the fruit from Crane…
Beckstoffer could be as many as 1,000 acres planted in a myriad of different terroirs that range dramatically in quality. That does not even take into consideration that different producers have different goals in farming as well.
The #1 shared characteristic is that the name Beckstoffer is on the label. Frankly, this is typical of Virginia Tech Hokies as they seem to put their “pieces of flair” on everything.
Ha! I had no idea Beckstoffer was a Hokie. My dad would be proud.
To the OP, I find generalizations difficult as J. Leve pointed out. Hard to know what’s farming/winemaking and what’s terroir.
This is a fun topic to discuss (and drink)!
Without throwing out an opinion, I’ll say that last year I took part in a Stewart Cellars 2016 horizontal where we tried all Beckstoffer vineyards side by side.
Regardless of your opinion of Stewart (if you have one), it was educational to experience a winemaker’s style across all Beckstoffer’s Napa vineyards.