2022 TOR Wines 'Pure Magic' Napa Valley

TOR Wines' 2022 Pure Magic is unusual in Napa Valley for being co-fermented rather than blended, meaning Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot enter the same tank together at crush and the winemaker relinquishes control from that moment forward. It's a high-risk winemaking gamble that in 2022 paid off spectacularly, drawing fruit from Beckstoffer Dr. Crane, To Kalon, Vine Hill Ranch, and Melanson, four of Napa's most coveted single vineyards. The 2022 vintage in California was defined by a brutal September heatwave that collapsed fruit in lesser sites, but the best terroirs held their nerve, and this wine is the proof. TOR Wines was founded by winemaker Tor Kenward, whose career began at Beringer before launching his own project focused on single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay from benchmark Napa Valley sites. Pure Magic represents a departure from the single-site philosophy, instead showcasing what happens when elite fruit sources are allowed to marry in the fermentation vessel rather than at the blending table post-fermentation. The 2022 bottling pulls from the gravelly loam of Beckstoffer Dr. Crane in St. Helena, the deep alluvial soils of To Kalon in Oakville, the volcanic benchland of Vine Hill Ranch in the eastern hills, and the clay and rock of Melanson on the valley floor, each vineyard contributing structure, perfume, and texture to the final wine. The co-fermentation approach means the wine's personality is shaped by microbial populations and fermentation kinetics shared across the varieties, yielding a seamlessness that conventional blending rarely achieves. The wine opens with black cherries, violets, and white pepper, followed by raspberries, vanilla, and bay leaf, the nose more delicate and lifted than the vintage's reputation might suggest. The palate is round and enveloping, with tannins that saturate from front to back and dissolve into a finish marked by dark chocolate and espresso that lingers well past the swallow. Jeb Dunnuck rated the 2022 Pure Magic 97 points and called it one of the more powerful, opulent wines of the vintage, with the structure to age gracefully for fifteen to twenty years in a cold cellar. It pairs naturally with grilled ribeye, braised short ribs, or aged Comté, and it's a wine to open now with a long decant or lay down for a decade. The 2022 TOR Wines Pure Magic Napa Valley is available for pickup at Off Premise Chicago, 1128 W Armitage Ave in Lincoln Park, for local Chicago delivery, or for nationwide shipping.