I found this at Benchmark last summer. Figured it was likely to be dead, but these hardly ever come up for sale, so I scooped it up. I had very high expectations, and still, this wine was super impressive. I get the hype. As I write this, there is about an inch of wine left in the bottle and I’m already sad for the future when it’s gone. My TN:
Good God this is an amazing bottle of wine- my first time with the legendary To Katon I-Block. Pale gold, very young looking. The nose is complex, full of golden apples, juicy pears, pineapples, preserved lemons, limestone, white florals, beeswax. A beautiful lively medium bodied texture in the mouth that is, like the nose, full of yellow fruits, minerality, acidity, chalk. The finish is long and complex, satisfying. Went wonderfully with stone crab claws and then later with swordfish. Half the bottle was absolutely fire 5 hours later.
What else to say? Very unique. The lively acidity and chalkiness reminds me of Chablis, some of the fruit resembles lush Cote de Beaune, the lovely and slightly oxidative waxy character recalls the great white wines of Lopez de Heredia. It somehow manages to be both unique and friendly; as a wine geek I went nuts from this, my non-wine enthusiast drinking partner (who normal detests Sauv Blanc) loved it as well.
No idea how representative this is- I’ve read these older To Kalon I-Blocks have significant bottle variability, and I’ve never had one before. But this is the best wine I’ve had in a quite a while. Too bad these are nearly impossible to track down.
How does the Fume Reserve compare to the I-Block? The I-Block is essentially unavailable. I got lucky after a couple years of WS-Pro searches and phone calls to the winery (I kept getting told, “Oh we might be selling that wine through our virtual store soon.” Yeah right…). The Fume Reserve is available, though not with this sort of age on it.
Smaller % of I-Block in it historically, but ages very well too. Drank up my 2004-2007s mostly during Covid since the world was ending. One was a bit oxed, the rest, around 8 bottles were all great. Last note I found with search was 2019.
I’ve had the 2014 twice in the last 6 months and wasn’t blown away either time. Definitely very high quality but didn’t have the cut or clarity I was anticipating.
Nice, thanks for this Kris! I haven’t tried one yet but have a couple from 1980 that I’ll look at sooner than later. Im assuming they’ll be more ‘interesting’ vs. Amazing…but you never know
For a second, I thought this was MY TN! Great wine! Unique is the word…nothing like it on the planet that I’ve ever had. SO tropical and cut with citrus…loaded with vine struggle minerality…exotic florals…waxy texture…my last recent bottle was the 99, and it was a dead ringer for a Raveneau! Have not had the 2000 I Block, but picked up a boatload of the 2000 Reserve on WB long time ago for $5! Those drank quite well, and still have one left. Have had a few clunkers…just last week dumped out a bottle of the 15 Reserve as it was too advanced, but replaced it with the 14, which was proper. The Reserve has Semillon blended with the SB…I Block is 100% SB. And those 79yr old vines dry farmed vines produce very little fruit…but what fruit they get from them is so special. I think it’s one of the best wines made from Napa…and definitely THE best wine Mondavi makes period. Mmmmm…now I want to go and crack open one!
Thanks for the discussion- I learned about this wine from the board here, so figured a TN here would be appreciated. Does anyone have an idea how to get a hold of these wines? Nothing is available on WSPro (other than a $900 bottle from CaskCartel ) I’ve contacted the winery, and they keep saying that it might become available to order “sometime soon”. It’s been like 3 years of emails, and still no luck. I got lucky with this one bottle, but it’s literally the only one I’ve seen available.
Those drank quite well, and still have one left. Have had a few clunkers…just last week dumped out a bottle of the 15 Reserve as it was too advanced, but replaced it with the 14, which was proper. The Reserve has Semillon blended with the SB…I Block is 100% SB. And those 79yr old vines dry farmed vines produce very little fruit…but what fruit they get from them is so special. I think it’s one of the best wines made from Napa…and definitely THE best wine Mondavi makes period. Mmmmm…now I want to go and crack open one! 
) I’ve contacted the winery, and they keep saying that it might become available to order “sometime soon”. It’s been like 3 years of emails, and still no luck. I got lucky with this one bottle, but it’s literally the only one I’ve seen available.