Winemaker’s Tasting Notes: The 2023 Pure Magic shows immediate notes of warm lilac, violet, lavender and leather aromas, along with back notes of cinnamon and clove, then opens into the fruit spectrum – spiced plum, red currant and black cherry. The hallmark of the wine’s entry is freshness, vibrancy, and depth. It has weight and power with impossibly silky tannins for its build. Though it dips a toe into the darker fruit spectrum, a bright red fruit ends it on a high note. This will be one of those wines that is delicious on release, yet should age gracefully for at least 15 years without breaking a sweat, all while developing more tertiary layers. If Black Magic is the beast, Pure Magic is the beauty.

Vintage: The 2023 vintage was similar to the 2018 vintage in how cool it was, how long the vintage was, and how late it started. The key to 2023 was not ‘panic picking’ just because you were harvesting so much later in the year than normal, and waiting it out until you got the ripeness and sugars that the fruit needed. The hallmarks of the wines are darker black and blue fruit spectrums and denser but streamlined tannins. A great Napa Valley vintage.

Tor’s Note: In 2001, the TOR house was built and stood on the foundation of single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons from very special blocks in vineyards we consider among Napa Valley’s finest. Great wines sometimes require risk and a leap of faith. Both paths led us to our first Pure Magic wines, based on co-fermenting Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot with Cabernet Sauvignon from a single vineyard. The decision is made only when the grapes are picked, not before or after, and it’s based on a winemaker’s instinct honed through decades of experience. It is a gamble because the decision cannot be reversed; the genie cannot return to the lamp. In the best years, our genie grants our wish with a wine whose sum exceeds its parts. In these years, we call this wine Pure Magic.

Watch the meaning behind TOR Magic below…

Cooper Kenward – Editor
Robby Piantanida – Director of Photography and Colorist