September 2023

 

Dear Customer,

 

Forty years ago, we made our first wine from our vineyard near the top of Spring Mountain. The 1983 Philip Togni Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is still a vibrant confirmation of the merits of our soil and microclimate.

​

Now we are happy to offer our 2021 Cabernet. After the disappointment of not releasing wines from 2020 because of smoke taint, and after the very real challenges of recovering from the Glass fire which burned some of our land, we’re pleased to be able to offer the excellent 2021, a wine made very much in the tradition of our past wines - elegant, food friendly and very long lived. Antonio Galloni has written, “A gorgeous, deep wine... the Togni Cabernet is one of my early favorites in 2021.” (Vinous, Oct. 2022, 96-98 points)

​

We are also offering our ten-year re-release, the 2013. This beautiful, youthful and very classic Cabernet will improve for decades, we believe. Galloni gave it 100 points at release, writing, “A majestic, towering wine, ...the 2013 simply conquers all of the senses, from the intellectual to the hedonistic.... This is easily the greatest young Philip Togni wine I have ever tasted. Simply put, the 2013 is magnificent and one of the wines of the vintage.” (Vinous, Oct. 2015)

​

Our twenty-year re-release is the 2003, aged here at our winery since bottling. This wine is nearing maturity and drinking beautifully now. Of it, Galloni has written, “... tobacco, licorice, incense emerge from the glass, followed by hints of white pepper and orange peel that add intrigue and exoticism.” (Vinous, Nov. 2013, 94 points)

​

The 2017 Ca’ Togni is our last vintage of this beguiling red sweet wine with its alluring bouquet of roses and its 340 grams per liter of natural sugar, made from our own Black Hamburgh grapes. The last vines died of Pierce’s Disease, a vineyard disease for which there is no cure, soon after the 2017 harvest. Galloni describes the 2017 Ca’ Togni as “tea leaves, spice, brown sugar and intense floral notes... It’s a fine swan song.” (Vinous, Oct. 2022, 93 points)

​

For those of you new to our mailing list, we bought this land at 2000 feet elevation on Spring Mountain, on the western side of the Napa Valley, in 1975 and began planting our now ten-acre vineyard in 1981, followed by the building of our small winery. The Cabernet is a blend that includes some Merlot and small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Our vineyard is farmed organically and is almost entirely dry farmed. The buildings are solar powered. We make two estate bottled Cabernets each year: Philip Togni and Tanbark Hill, our second wine. A portion of the Philip Togni Cabernet is held back to be re-released in later years.

 

           Best regards,

​

​

​

 

           Lisa, Birgitta and Philip Togni