Cristaldi: How Schrader Cellars powered its renaissance with a new approach at To Kalon

For nearly a quarter of a century, Schrader Cellars has been a cornerstone for collectors of high-end Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Founded in 1998 by Fred Schrader, a prominent art and antiques dealer, the label’s inaugural wine was from the same vintage.

Shortly after, Schrader partnered with winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown, who produced the 2000 vintage, including the first Beckstoffer To Kalon release. Brown remains at the helm today, and the upcoming 2023 release will mark the brand’s 25th anniversary.

In 2017, Constellation Brands, which owns the Robert Mondavi winery and vast swaths of To Kalon Vineyard, purchased Schrader for an undisclosed sum – some sources suggest it was around US$60 million.

Eight years later, the company is in the final phases of cementing a new legacy for Schrader – both in vineyard sourcing and in the location where the wines are produced.

In many ways, this contemporary icon will find itself inextricably linked with the venerated Mondavi name as both brands undergo a renaissance.

Scroll down for Jonathan’s notes and scores on Schrader Cellars

A seismic shift?

Historically, the source for Schrader’s most celebrated mineral-laced, structured, and cellar-worthy Cabernets, like the magnum-only ‘Old Sparky’, ‘CCS’, and ‘RBS’ has been the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard.

However, at the end of the 2021 harvest, Constellation terminated its contracts with Beckstoffer.

During a tasting with Brown, I posited that such a seismic shift might be cause for concern for Schrader’s longtime collectors, but Brown was quick to squash any lingering doubts.

‘With all the Beckstoffer fruit, there was no option to declassify or cut anything,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘Everything had to make it in the blend. With all these new hectares of To Kalon open to us, we have some new blocks and emerging opportunities with a pleasant voyage of discovery.’

Vineyards aside, the Robert Mondavi Winery closed to the public in 2023 as it embarked on a massive new project to refurbish its cellar and hospitality spaces (the winery is slated to reopen in the Spring of 2026).

In 2024, the brand new Robert Mondavi ‘To Kalon Cellar’ came online, and Brown transitioned Schrader from its longtime home at Outpost on Howell Mountain to the new cellar, which sits amid the To Kalon Vineyard.

A new take on To Kalon

Whereas the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard blocks cover just 33.59 hectares, Constellation’s share of the site stretches to 177ha. (For a specific breakdown of all the owners of To Kalon vineyard land, see the article Greatest vineyards: Decanter names 12 ‘to rule them all’).

It’s a diverse landscape with many postage-stamp-shaped blocks on either side of the famous To Kalon Creek and varying, well-draining, gravelly, alluvial soils, which are ideal for Cabernet production.

In the last six years, roughly one-quarter of those 177ha have been redeveloped with new row orientations, modern drip irrigation, and better drought-tolerant rootstocks and clonal selections.

Blake Wood, Director of Vineyard Operations for Schrader and former vineyard manager for Andy Beckstoffer’s Heritage Properties in Napa, notes that in 2023: ‘We achieved California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) certification, which required three years of strictly organic farming before we could earn that certification.’

Given Brown’s access to such vast new areas of To Kalon and Brown and Wood’s fine-tuning of these blocks, new and riveting sections for very fine Napa Cabernet will emerge. The aim is to lend an air of greater prestige for the Mondavi To Kalon Vineyard, which may finally match, or may even eclipse, the hallowed Beckstoffer To Kalon blocks.

Certainly, Geneviève Janssens, who has served as Mondavi winemaker since 1997, has identified prime To Kalon blocks for the Mondavi Reserve Cabs.

But all the fine-tuning has obvious implications – larger blocks will find themselves more divided, with new segments going to smaller-production wines and, of course, Schrader.

Finding diamonds in the rough

‘This is all about tiny steps,’ says master sommelier Jason Smith, VP of Constellation’s Icon Portfolio of high-end brands, including Schrader. ‘The Heritage clone block is a perfect example – Brown and Wood realised that by fine-tuning the farming of the Mondavi Heritage clone of Cabernet, they could slightly increase yields,’ allowing enough for the Mondavi programme while Schrader utilises some as well.

For Brown, picking the right grapes to maintain Schrader’s style and quality meant sifting through a nearly 4-kilometre portion of To Kalon amid the western flank of the Oakville AVA, stretching from near the northern border of the Rutherford-Oakville AVA line south to Dwyer Road near the southern Oakville-Yountville AVA line.

However, there was no rush to fit a new glass slipper around a foot that would not yield a comfortable fit.

‘Something important for us was to give Thomas time until we switched to the Mondavi side of To Kalon,’ explained Smith, who notes Brown began working with the Mondavi fruit in 2017.

Smith adds that many of the younger vines from some redeveloped To Kalon blocks are ideally suited for Schrader’s Double Diamond label, ‘a wine that’s more accessible and has traditionally been made as ready-to-drink upon release.’

After the first few vintages, Brown homed in on two sections: the Monastery Blocks and the N2 South Heritage Clone block.

The Schrader building blocks

Monastery Blocks:

The Monastery Blocks are located near the Carmelite Monastery at the western end of the Mondavi To Kalon section, at the base of the Mayacamas Mountain. This area spans roughly 550 metres between Walnut Lane and Oakville Grade Road.

The Monastery itself perched on an elevated bluff to the west and the Oakville Station, along with its UC Davis experimental vineyards, on lower, flatter terrain to the east.

Most of this area is planted to Bordeaux varieties, including some prime Sauvignon Blanc for Mondavi’s Reserve bottling and, of course, Cabernet Sauvignon. The soils are greyish with an ash-white tint, sandy on the surface, and extremely rocky just a few centimetres below.

The blocks feature tight 1.2 x 1.2-metre spacing, with subtle gradations and gently rolling hills cascading downhill towards Highway 29 and the Napa River. This gradual slope, almost imperceptible until you stand nearer the Mayacamas foothills and look east, defines the Monastery Blocks.

The Monastery Blocks have historically provided the backbone for Mondavi Reserve Cabernet wines from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s – wines that remain vibrant and show beautifully in the glass decades later.

P Neighbourhood:

Nearby lies a section informally called the ‘P Neighbourhood,’ where various ‘P-blocks’ have emerged as key components for Schrader blends. With Harlan Estate visible in the distance atop a high hill, a creek running nearby, and Martha’s Vineyard just a stone’s throw away, it’s a prestigious neighbourhood for Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

P North is a critical 4.3-hectare block contributing to Mondavi Reserve, To Kalon Vineyard Co., and Schrader. The Clone 337 vines, planted in 1999, have a tight 1.2 x 1.2 metre. Nearby, the P-1 Block spans 3.7 hectares and is planted with Cabernet Clone 685 for Schrader and Mondavi wines.

Heritage Clone block (N2 South):

Heading north again, back towards the Mondavi To Kalon Cellar, and crossing a culvert lies the Heritage Clone block, identified as Block N2South. ‘This Heritage Mondavi Clone was identified and propagated by UC Davis,’ explains Blake Wood.

‘It was a source of budwood on the property for decades, cleaned up, and made available to other vintners. It produces tiny clusters and low yields, delivering a characteristic spice-box note, immense concentration, and bright acidity.’

Brown drives for quality over style

‘Everything has been reimagined as we moved over,’ says Brown, who, with the upcoming 2023 vintage, feels he has the lineup just right. ‘It’s just as good as the old lineup, if not a bit better. There’s a good sense of place in all the bottlings,’ he adds.

Brown believes readers will ‘see everything click into place’ with the 2023 bottlings. ‘There’s the To Kalon signature in the wines – the perfect combination of elegance, power, and interesting contrasts. To Kalon sits at an inflexion point in the Napa Valley, where the savoury, red-fruited, southern appellations collide with the riper, more structured, black-fruited appellations to the north.’

Brown and Wood work to identify blocks in the vineyard ahead of time that will be ideal for Schrader rather than relying solely on harvesting and barrel selections. ‘It’s a lot of trial and error.’

Brown highlights that the blocks further west, nearer the Mayacamas Range, and those on alluvial fans, are excellent parcels. ‘I loved working with Beckstoffer’s C and D blocks,’ he laments, ‘two-thirds of the way back from the road on the bench. That bench perspective is also true for Mondavi To Kalon in this area.’

‘But With Mondavi To Kalon,’ he continues, ‘we can go all the way back into the Monastery sections, further up the bench. It will be exciting to see how those perform in the coming years, especially some of the younger vine blocks already producing beautiful fruit.’

Schrader Cellars

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