CADE Howell Mountain Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
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Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
A potpourri of aromas explode from the glass with notes of raspberry coulis, black cherry, cedar, cocoa nib, boysenberry, mint, graham cracker, and a hint of lavender, rose and bay. The palette follows with bright flavors of red cherry and strawberry jam before tertiary elements of coffee, dark chocolate, licorice, and fresh plums take over. This wine is full-bodied displaying archetypal Howell Mountain tannin balanced by an elegant structure.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The only red I was able to taste, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate checks in as 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 7% Malbec, and 5% Petit Verdot brought up in 79% new French oak. It's a total rock star of a wine and boasts a saturated purple color, a flamboyant, full-bodied, sexy style, awesome notes of cassis, toasty oak, tobacco, and graphite, sweet tannins, and thrilling purity of fruit. It ranks with the creme de la creme of Howell Mountain and has 2-3 decades of longevity ahead of it.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Cade Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 7% Malbec and 5% Petit Verdot. It has a deep purple-black color and wonderfully pure, vibrant notes of crushed blackcurrants, black cherries and baker's chocolate with touches of Indian spices, licorice and cloves plus an earthy waft of damp soil. Full-bodied, rich and powerful in the mouth with a rock-solid frame of ripe, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, it finishes with layer after layer of black fruit and exotic spices.
Rating: 96+ -
James Suckling
This is another essence-like expression of cabernet from this producer, but it’s well done with blackberries, cassis, morello cherries and hot stones. Full body, chewy yet grainy tannins and a structured finish. Drink in 2024.
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CADE Estate Winery Supports Farmworkers. For every bottle of CADE Estate Cabernet Sauvignon sold, $1 will be donated to the Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation.
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.
Today Cabernet Sauvignon is the star of this part of Napa’s rugged, eastern hills, but Zinfandel was responsible for giving the Howell Mountain growing area its original fame in the late 1800s.
Winemaking in Howell Mountain was abandoned during Prohibition, and wasn’t reawakened until the arrival of Randy Dunn, a talented winemaker famous for the success of Caymus in the 1970s and 1980s. In the early eighties, he set his sights on the Napa hills and subsequently astonished the wine world with a Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Shortly thereafter Howell Mountain became officially recognized as the first sub-region of Napa Valley (1983).
With vineyards at 1,400 to 2,000 feet in elevation, they predominantly sit above the fog line but the days in Howell Mountain remain cooler than those in the heart of the valley, giving the grapes a bit more time on the vine.
The Howell Mountain AVA includes 1,000 acres of vineyards interspersed by forestlands in the Vaca Mountains. The soils, shallow and infertile with good drainage, are volcanic ash and red clay and produce highly concentrated berries with thick skins. The resulting wines are full of structure and potential to age.
Today Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petite Sirah thrive in this sub-appellation, as well as its founding variety, Zinfandel.