Winemaker Notes
Blend: 98.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1.4% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lots of blackberries, chocolate and hazelnuts on the nose and palate here. It’s full-bodied, yet tense and structured with lovely balance of fruit and tannins. Drinkable now, but better after 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley is a blend of 98.6% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1.4% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple colored, it bursts from the glass with bombastic crème de cassis, black cherry compote and plum preserves scents plus hints of chocolate mint, cedar chest, lavender and rose hip tea with a waft of cloves. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is jam-packed with vibrant, youthful black fruits, framed by firm, grainy tannins and loads of freshness, finishing long and fruity.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon comes from a great vintage in Napa and reveals a deep purple hue as well as classic notes of blackcurrants, tobacco, cedarwood, and violets. Medium to full-bodied, nicely concentrated, with plenty of mid-palate depth and some chewy tannins, it's a beautiful, outstanding wine that needs 3-4 years of bottle age and will keep for 15-20. Rating: 92+
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Wine & Spirits
More about moonlight than sunlight, this wine has cool bass notes of tannins under dark shades of mushrooms, carrot tops and black-fruit intensity. It’s earthy, savory and bold, a wine for roast wild boar.
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Wine Spectator
Very solid, featuring a direct beam of cassis and plum fruit, inlaid with singed anise and sassafras notes. Offers a light tug of warm earth on the finish, with the fruit staying in control. Shows latent grip. Drink now through 2031.
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.