Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesA cooler style of Napa cab with blackcurrants, hot stones and violets that follow through to a full-bodied palate with creamy, polished tannins that integrate nicely on the palate and provide a delicious combination of fruit and character. Drinkable now, but give it just one more year. Try after 2021.
Moving to the Cabernet Sauvignon releases, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley reveals a dense purple color as well as a great bouquet of crème de cassis, scorched earth, camphor, new leather, and candied flowers. With medium to full-bodied richness, it offers terrific tannins and good mid-palate depth, with the fresh, pure, classy style of the vintage front and center. It competes with wines at two to three times the price and is going to evolve nicely for 10-12 years, if not longer.
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color. It opens with expressive notes of warm cassis, black cherries, blackberries and fragrant earth with hints of bay leaves and black truffles. Medium to full-bodied, it delivers mouth-coating cassis flavors with compelling herbal sparks, framed by a lively backbone and wonderfully velvety tannins, finishing long.
With small elements of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc blended in, this nicely made red is bright and supple in addition to being well integrated. Herbal back notes of cedar and sage provide earthy context to the darkly brooding black fruit, finishing in a grip of tannin
Amici's owners — John Harris, Bob and Celia Shepard, and Bart Woytowicz—are all great friends with a passion for making and enjoying great wine. At Amici the focus is on quality, not quantity. Because they insist on keeping the production small, they can carefully control the process of creating each wine, crafting what they like to consider a small work of art in each bottle.
What started as a few friends crushing some grapes for fun is now an award-winning premium wine known around the country, but one thing will never change: Amici is a wine created by friends, for friends.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.