This was…REALLY disappointing. Sure it had big dark fruit and was ‘easy’ to drink…but that’s about it. Overall it was flabby, overdone, and frankly, super boring. Zero structure, and i dont see any upside to holding longer. I enjoy all types of wines (from light/high-acid to large-scale) depending on my mood…but this kinda feels like an insult to the To Kalon fruit.
I still have a 2012 To Kalon (NOT 337) and a 2010 Mast. Was planning to hold but maybe I’m better off drinking now and saving any (potential) future disappointment??
I tried their wines years ago, I no longer recall the specific bottles or vintages, felt as you noted that there was no there there. Wasn’t what I was looking for and never tried them again.
I don’t know what to do with wines like this. I doubt they get better with age but I have little desire to drink them in the current state. They cost too much for me to dump into the vinegar pot. I would gift them but only to someone I know that appreciates them and rarely do I know someone that does. I have the same problem with a few bottles of 2008 Delectus Cuvée Julia that tastes more like port than Cabernet. So by default, they are resting in the cellar hoping for magic to happen when I finally get around to trying another bottle.
I take wines like these out to dinner with friends along with another bottle or two I know I will like to compare and contrast. Bring a TOR + Washington Cab + Bordeaux with a few couples and let folks get into them. Oddly, most people love the over oaked wine, which is fine as now I have a great memory of an evening with wife and friends to go with a wine I wasn’t thrilled to own.
I have gotten tired of the big Beckstoffer wines (they are fun and flashy and my friends love them) and agree that beyond a couple years of age I worry about where they are going to head. I have offloaded most of mine and stopped buying them so others that love the style can pick them up. (not to mention the ridiculous pricing trend …)
The part I don’t understand is you retaining a high value on them when you obviously don’t like them. I liken it to people who open a corked bottle and keep checking back on it for hours hoping it will improve.
Time to cut bait!
Oh, I agree. It isn’t logical. I don’t have much of a defense for it either. Except that single bottle of California merlot that transformed from something I despised to something I loved when I left it alone in the cellar for another decade. Happened once and only once but it is always in the back of my mind when deciding if I should just wait longer and hope for the miracle.
I don’t know why, but I have not had good experience with “aged” TOR wines. I agree with your assessment here. They fall flat. Have had the BTK, Melanson, VHR, and their standard cabernet, and I feel all really kind of peak for my palate around the 5 year mark. I had a few 2012s and 2013s last year and they just failed to live up to expectations. My solution is to just drink them early, because at that point they are good with a decent decant.
That’s a great call! Sadly we have very few byob restaurants here in AZ (like…literally 3!), but excellent idea to pop one at an upcoming dinner along with some other bottles
Yep, drinking them young is probably the move (although i definitely don’t plan on buying any more, ha!). CellarTracker says i opened one in 2018 and liked it much better.
Will pop my 2010 Mast and 2012 Beckstoffer sooner than later and hope for the best
I mentioned this in another thread a while back, I love TOR wines but I was just not convinced they could age 20-30 years, I feel you have confirmed this… but I think within 10 years they are incredibly stellar.
I had a Tor 2012 BTK recently and was pretty disappointed. Tasted very acidic and none of intensity and purity I normally get from To Kalon. I purchased from a retailer that had acquired it from a private collection and almost wondered if it hadn’t been stored entirely properly.
I saved some to just let sit and after a long while it got a bit better, but nowhere near what I’d expect from this vineyard. Sounds like my experience wasn’t a one off.
I separately had a ‘17 Tor Cimarossa recently and liked that one much better.
Well shoot. Was hoping that one might be a little better, ha! Ill probably end up opening mine in the near-term as it sounds like a fairly consistent theme of these cabs not really improving with extended age.
At a high level I have never been too concerned about drinking wines too young. Of course it does happen - so I think you need to be selective at times. But for California wines in general I think the bigger risk is keeping them too long. Take a look at the Tales from the Crypt thread.
Sorry to hear about your experience but frankly I am not surprised. How many of these bruiser type wines have gone the distance? I’d bet the labeled 15% ABV is more like 16.2% on a lab test.
