2015 Kata Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Bourn Vineyard Napa Valley 750 ml

Benoit Touquette’s Napa Grand Cru Stunner

“I still remember the first time I tasted Kata, before the first vintage was released. It was a super-distinctive wine back then, as it is today,” wrote Vinous founder Antonio Galloni. Backing up that assertion, Galloni called the 2015 Kata Beckstoffer Bourn Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon “dark, unctuous and fabulously concentrated,” in his 97-point review. Highly allocated and highly collectible—we wrestled just 36 bottles from the Kata stash for friends of Wine Access.

The 2015 Kata is one of those skyscraper wines that borders on heavenly. Little wonder given its creator: Benoit Touquette, is a towering giant in the pantheon of Napa Cabernet, having produced numerous 100-point wines for Realm, and marvelously rich and opulent bottles for Fait-Main, Teeter-Totter, and Hartwell.

As for this Kata bottling, consider this: you’ll find the words “Beckstoffer Vineyard” on an incredible 14 Robert Parker 100-point wines from prestigious names like Schrader, Purlieu, Paul Hobbs, Realm, and Carter. For decades, the Beckstoffers exclusively sold their grapes to these and a few other elite producers. But with the 2010 acquisition of the Bourn Vineyard in St. Helena, David Beckstoffer was so captivated that he chose to make his own wine for the first time.

The 12-acre St. Helena vineyard is just down the road from Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard and Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard. First planted in 1872, it is one of the oldest vineyards in Napa Valley, with 60-year-old Petite Sirah growing alongside Cabernet Sauvignon in well-drained gravel soils.

The 2015 Kata Cabernet is the product of a blue-chip partnership between the grower, Beckstoffer, and the maker, Touquette. The combination of Napa’s most elite farming family and Touqette’s unmatched expertise makes this one of those rare chances at a collectible, coming to you direct from Kata’s cellars in perfect condition and provenance.