TOR

 Founded by Tor and Susan Kenward, TOR Wines captures nearly fifty years of Napa Valley wisdom, craftsmanship, and relationships at the highest levels of fine winemaking. Tor arrived in Napa in 1975, when the valley was home to fewer than fifty wineries.

Over the decades, he helped shape Napa Valley into the global benchmark it is today — from vineyard sourcing and cellar craft to the art of hospitality. Along the way, his mentors and friends included legends such as Robert Mondavi, André Tchelistcheff, and Julia Child. His acclaimed book Reflections of a Vintner chronicles that journey, a firsthand portrait of Napa’s rise told through one of its true insiders.

At TOR Wines, the focus is singular and precise: single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay from Napa’s most storied sites, alongside limited cuvées of co-fermented Bordeaux varieties, Black Magic and Pure Magic, produced only when nature allows. Every bottle is made in select quantities, with the number of barrels displayed on the label.

TOR’s ethos is simple: minimal intervention, maximum expression. Each vineyard speaks for itself. That philosophy has earned TOR twenty three perfect 100-point scores (nineteen or now twenty-two as of this week) since its founding in 2001, a testament to consistency, terroir, and time. Since day one, winemaker Jeff Ames has led the cellar with an unshakable commitment to this philosophy and to preserving each vineyard’s purity of place.

TOR remains 100% family-owned, with vineyard partnerships as enduring and iconic as the land itself. The estate farms eleven blocks in Beckstoffer To Kalon, two in Beckstoffer Dr. Crane, three in Vine Hill Ranch, two in Melanson Vineyard atop Pritchard Hill, and three in Hyde Vineyard in Carneros. These aren’t just great vineyards; they are Napa’s legendary First Growths.

In 2024, Wine Spectator named To Kalon one of the top ten vineyards in the world. And in 2021, Steven Spurrier and Patricia Gallagher restaged their legendary Paris Tasting in Napa, blind-pitting ten of the world’s most iconic Cabernet-based wines against one another. The 2016 TOR Beckstoffer To Kalon placed first, besting Château Mouton Rothschild, Scarecrow, Colgin, and others.