Winemaker Notes
The 2016 vintage of the Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon possesses a remarkably pure Cabernet Sauvignon character, with notes of cassis, black tea, cocoa nibs, leather and bay laurel. The bright natural acidity, a hallmark of the appellation, bring life and energy to the flavor profile, along with black cherry, baking spices, coriander, and ripe tannins that leave a sweet, supple feeling on the finish. Dense and rich, this wine will continue to develop in the bottle for two decades or more.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Coombsville, in the cool rugged volcanic hills above the town of Napa, is an ancient collapsed caldera, the crescent-shaped remnant of a volcano that erupted about 8 million years ago. It’s here that Andy and Annie Erickson decided to make Favia, their own tiny production Cabernet, after working for an all-star list of other wineries including Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Harlan, and Staglin. Beautifully balanced and vibrant with cassis and savory flavors, the 2016 has the makings of a classic: it’s majestically structured yet polished and supple.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The deep purple-colored 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville has classic blue fruit as well as plenty of green herbs, sage, tobacco, and graphite aromas and flavors. It’s another structured, vibrant, focused wine that needs bottle age.
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James Suckling
This is really pretty with blackcurrant and lead-pencil aromas and flavors. Solid core of fruit to the firm and lightly chewy tannins. It’s polished and so real. Focused. Needs four or five years to soften, but already a joy to taste. Try after 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the very deep purple-black colored 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville bursts forth with exuberant black cherries, crushed blackcurrants and black raspberries with touches of violets, camphor, damp soil and mossy bark plus a waft of black tea. Full and generous, with a rock-solid construction, it has layer upon layer of black and red fruits and seamless freshness, finishing long and perfumed.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and vivid, with a stream of boysenberry, black currant and plum fruit racing along in lockstep, while anise, sage and singed tobacco notes fill in. The finish is underscored by graphite-edged grip, showing good latent energy. Powerful and pure. Best from 2021 through 2035.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2016 Favia Cabernet Sauvignon, from the Coombsville AVA, shows what the future of Cab in the Napa Valley could become. This once cold region is just a bit warmer now. TASTING NOTES: This elegant wine is rich and balanced. Its beautiful red currant aromas and flavors stay bright and lively on the palate and into the wine's finish. (Tasted: September 26, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
Favia Erickson Winegrowers is a collaboration between Annie Favia and Andy Erickson. Their philosophy is simple: create soulful wines that express the true nature of the vineyards from which they come. Annie and Andy focus on finding unique vineyard sites with soils, climate and aspects ideal for growing exquisite wine grapes, and develop strong relationships with their winegrowers to perfect viticultural practices. In the winery, they carefully coax the grapes into wine. Gentle handling, minimal intervention, and strict monitoring of the wine allow our grapes to speak for themselves.
Ultimately, Favia Erickson Winegrowers unites science, art and nature to produce unparalleled wines, each with its own distinct character.
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.
Situated in the southeastern corner of Napa Valley in the Vaca range, the vineyards of the Coombsville AVA enjoy a long growing season mitigated by cool, San Pablo Bay fog.