Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Rich and refined, with a suppleness and grace that lets the mix of loamy earth, cedar, dried berry and tobacco leaf stand out. Best from 2015 through 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Townsend is a classic Napa offering with impressive ripeness buttressed by a European tannic structure. This dark ruby/purple-colored wine is still young, and less flattering than many 2012s. However, do not mistake that for a lack of quality or potential as this Cabernet offers up plenty of cassis, loamy soil, tobacco leaf and spice characteristics. Medium-bodied and concentrated, it plays it close to the vest so requires several more years of bottle age. It should keep for 12-15 years.
ANTICA is a symbol for Antinori California and expresses in Italian our family's passion for winemaking passed along 26 generations.
Napa Valley has a special place in my heart beginning with my first visit in 1966, having the free spirit coming from a new frontier, a wonderful history, and the potential to produce world-class wines.
Our wine estate is located on a high plain in the eastern mountains of the celebrated Napa Valley. Its hilly terrain, rocky soils, high elevations and beautiful landscape create above all an estate ideal for winegrowing.
Marchese Piero Antinori - Proprietor
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Just northeast of Napa city, Atlas Peak boasts some of Napa Valley’s highest elevation vineyards. Here the intense sunlight coupled with cool, nighttime temperatures produce grapes that are perfectly ripe, balanced and concentrated. The appellation is rich in volcanic soils and excels in the production of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.