Releases September 2025 | Download fact sheet
Napa pioneer Dr. George Belden Crane originally planted Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard in 1858. Acquired by Beckstoffer Vineyards in 1997, the vineyard’s pure rock to gravelly loam soils were replanted in 1998 to multiple clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc. Just south and on the west side of Highway 29, it borders a rock quarry, which defines our block, planted to the rare and shy yielding Clone 6. We also have a small block of Cabernet Franc which we co-ferment with the Cabernet Sauvignon and in some years, produce on its own.
Our 2023 Dr. Crane (81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc) was co-fermented in a single 4-ton closed-top tank for 28 days on the skins, resulting in profound extraction of color and flavors. After basket pressing, it was aged in the rare Taransaud T5 barrels. The “T5s” are five-year air-dried and highly sought after. As always, we continually tasted throughout the winemaking process, but this wine was complete from the beginning. Bottled without fining or filtration, allowed for maximum development of mouthfeel and texture.
Anytime somebody says Napa Cabernet all tastes the same, this is my “Hold my beer!” vineyard that I pour a glass of that can only come from Dr. Crane and nowhere else. The nose on Dr. Crane is always super unique with its almost crystallized expression of fruit. This does not have the intense black fruit that Vine Hill does, and it expresses its Cabernet Sauvignon completely differently than To Kalon does. This has spicy raspberry, vibrant rose petal, African spices, Dry earth, and dark chocolate. The lift and the freshness on the palate are part of what makes this one so unique. It’s almost as if all the fruit within the wine was given an electric shock. One of those true wines where, if you’ve seen the soil within the vineyard when you try the wine, you can taste the soil.
—Jeff Ames
I quote my friend Karen MacNeil, wine historian, author of the Wine Bible, “2023 was as perfect as any Napa vintage in living memory. It was Napa’s 1961 Bordeaux.” I remember the 1961 Bordeaux wines well, first tasting most of the First Growths in the 1970s. They were very structured wines, wines that did take a little time to find their “perfect” stride, and when they did, they were wines you never forgot. Across the board, the TOR 2023 wines are instant classics.
