Winemaker Notes
The 2016 Bacio Divino features impeccable vineyard sourcing, and an excellent growing season with healthy yields. Long hangtimes allow grapes to reach peak ripeness before picking. We hold back several barrels from our Janzen single vineyard Cabernet offerings, and blend in a ‘kiss’ of Sangiovese. The result is a unique wine that Cabernet devotees as well as those who appreciate “artful” blends can enjoy.
Blend: 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Sangiovese, 1% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Te 2016 Artful Red Blend is a blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Sangiovese coming from Beckstoffer To Kalon (40%), Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper (30%), Beckstoffer George III (25%) and Antica (5%—the Sangiovese). Deep purple-black colored, the 2016 Artful Red Wine reveals wonderful purity and intensity on the nose, giving notes of crushed blackberries and redcurrants with a core of cassis and nuances of black pepper, tree bark, truffles, licorice and cinnamon stick. Full-bodied and boldly fruited in the mouth, the crushed black fruit and anise-inspired layers have a solid backbone of ripe, grainy tannins and just enough freshness, finishing long and spicy.
Range: 94-96+
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Jeb Dunnuck
Checking in as a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Sangiovese and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2015 Artful Red Wine offers a fresh, focused, structured style that's going to benefit from short-term cellaring. Possessing pure notes of crème de cassis, blueberries, violets, and graphite, it's medium to full-bodied, focused and straight on the palate, with building tannin. It lacks the suppleness of the 2014s, yet shows the hallmark focus, purity and concentration of the 2015 vintage.
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Wine Enthusiast
This includes 5% Sangiovese, a worthy, more feral companion to the structured Cabernet. Toasted oak, tobacco and crayon wax play out along a brooding core of tart black fruit and serious tannin, finishing with a taste of graphite.
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.