Winemaker Notes
Round, rich in fruit and expansive on the palate, the 2016 Rutherford Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon exudes layers of espresso, black fruit, and graphite. Full bodied, it does not hold back in power yet succeeds in finding balance. The structured finish suggests it has potential to age, in the correct cellar conditions, for years to come.
Blend 98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Concentrated, refined and mannerly, this bottling makes good use of its currant and dried black cherry fruit and hints of crème brûlée to repeat its high standing with us. It is supple, rich and a tad rounded, but never soft, on the palate with supportive acid giving it both energy and length. Its late-arriving tannins provide the grip to stand up to savory meats today and also help assure a long and happy voyage in the cellar. For our part, it deserves to rest five years or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Containing a 2% splash of Petit Verdot, the very deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon RHF opens with fragrant cassis, mocha, underbrush and preserved plums scents with touches of iron ore and dried herbs. The palate is medium to full-bodied, firm and savory in the mouth with a good concentration of muscular fruit and a savory finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: My history with Frank Family goes back nearly two decades. I have always kept a watchful eye on what they were doing. I knew that over time, this winery would become of the Napa Valley's top performers. The 2016 Frank Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the winery's best wines to date. TASTING NOTES: This wine is demonstrative and well-structured. Its powerful yet stately aromas and flavors of bold black fruits start and stay beautiful to the wine's finish. A hint of oak adds to the complexity. Pair it with a standing rib roast laden with garlic, rosemary, and cracked black peppercorns. (Tasted: July 18, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
The dark currant and steeped plum fruit is framed by singed alder, dark tobacco and sassafras notes, with a hint of licorice root. Grippy through the finish, offering a tarry edge. A touch brawny overall, but showing good energy. Give this a little time. Best from 2021 through 2032.
Since the founding of the winery in 1992, Frank Family Vineyards has poured their passion for land, grape growing and winemaking into each and every bottle of Frank Family Vineyards wine. Today they own over 450 acres of the finest vineyard land checkerboarded throughout the Napa Valley. This allows them to control quality and cultivate sustainably on their own estate and enables winemaker, Todd Graff, to blend perfectly balanced wines. With a commitment to crafting the finest representation of Napa Valley wines, Frank Family Vineyards hopes to create a legacy for generations to come.
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.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.