A barrel selection of the best of the vintage, this year coming from Vine Hill Ranch and To Kalon, the 2018 Proprietary Red Black Magic has a proportion of the Cabernet Sauvignon co-fermented with Petit Verdot, blended with a splash of Cabernet Franc. Very deep garnet-purple colored, it needs a fair bit of coaxing before rolling seductively out of the glass with scents of crème de cassis, baked plums and boysenberries plus nuances of tar, licorice, Indian spices and unsmoked cigars with a waft of pencil lead. This is big, rich and full-bodied, while the palate is powerful and has bags of energy, delivering impressive tension and firm, grainy tannins, finishing with fantastic length and many, many layers. It's an absolute Napa Cab powerhouse that should easily cellar for 40 years or more. 250 cases were made.

The 2018 Black Magic will be a selection from the top vineyards, but I'm not sure of the blend. (It can change dramatically from vintage to vintage.) It has a full-bodied, ripe, powerful style as well as notes of blackcurrants, chocolate, and smoke tobacco, a deep, layered mid-palate, ripe tannins, and a terrific, almost Graves-like sense of minerality. It has the vintage's pure, classic style as well as ample power and richness.

The 2018 Black Magic is a ten-barrel blend of choice blocks from both Vine Hill Ranch and Beckstoffer To Kalon. Rich, dark and sumptuous with tremendous textural resonance, the 2018 has so much to offer. Blackberry jam, chocolate, licorice, lavender, gravel, earth and spice push through in this sumptuous yet structured wine from Tor. The blend is 4 barrels of Vine Hill Ranch Petit Verdot, 2 barrels Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet, 2 barrels Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon and 2 barrels of Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Franc.