Winemaker Notes
#48 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Wines of 2019
Arietta Quartet is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot from carefully chosen vineyard blocks in the Napa Valley. Aged for 20 months in French oak barrels (61% new), Arietta Quartet is approachable upon release, but rich enough to age well for ten years or more. The label features a drawing of the instruments of the string quartet by eight-year-old Libby Hatton, a future proprietor of Arietta, over a manuscript fragment of the famous Cavatina movement from Beethoven's String Quartet Opus 130.
The Arietta Red Wine Quartet 2016 benefits from two new vineyard sources at the southern end of Napa Valley, both providing Cabernet Sauvignon, and both managed by the superb viticulturist, Mike Wolf. This change makes more attainable our continuing quest for the most exquisite balance of ripeness and freshness in the Arietta wines.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Winemaker Andy Erickson coaxes beautiful fruit and structure from this blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, many of the grapes from Coombsville and Carneros. Juicy and weighty on the palate in blackberry and blueberry, it offers firm integrated tannin and undeniable elegance, with lovely teases of dried herb, graphite and exotic spice. Editors’ Choice.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Quartet is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Deep purple-black in color, it features youthful, vivacious black and red currants notions with an undercurrent of black plums, mulberries, Indian spices and fragrant earth plus wafts of tobacco and new leather. Full-bodied and laden with decadent black fruit and spicy layers, it has a velvety backbone and long spicy finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Bordeaux styled red wines seem to everywhere these days, and many of them follow a similar formula of loads of ripe fruit, lavish oak, and an elevated palate. While those attributes are laudable, balance is often missing in the final package. The 2016 Arietta Quartet has put it all together and is one of the top efforts in this category. TASTING NOTES: This wine is packed, yet balanced and refined. Its aromas and flavors of dark chocolate, ripe berries, and savory oak make it a lovely match with a well-marbled, grilled Porterhouse steak. (Tasted: September 17, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
The second wine of the estate, the 2016 Red Wine Quartet is based on 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot. There are 1,100 cases and it has terrific chocolaty dark fruits, truffle, olive, and meaty aromatics, medium to full body, a rounded, supple texture, and a great finish. It has a classic Cabernet green edge, with an almost Bordeaux vibe.
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James Suckling
Strong blue-fruit aromas with cassis and blueberries taking center stage, ahead of gently tarry, coal-smoke aromas. The palate has gently chewy tannins and an array of ripe-plum and raisin flavors. A blend of 58 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 30 per cent merlot, 11 per cent cabernet franc and one per cent petit verdot.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.