Winemaker Notes
The 2016 Hewitt Cabernet Sauvignon is dynamic and powerful, with incredible generosity and opulence on the palate. The inviting aromas and flavors unfold into sumptuous ripe blackberry, black cherry and black currant, followed by hints of dark chocolate, mocha, and rum-raisin. With layers of complexity, the mid-palate is chewy and rich, revealing multi-dimensional dense dark fruit with focused persistence and density. Incredibly age worthy, this is a wine that truly exemplifies both the personality of Hewitt Vineyard and the tremendous concentration and elegance of the 2016 vintage. The finish is long and inviting with velvety textured tannins. Hewitt Cabernet Sauvignon is crafted to be cellarworthy, however, if you can’t wait to enjoy a glass, we recommend decanting to allow the fullest expression to evolve and reveal itself within the glass.
Blend: 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
I love the character of crushed berries, dried dirt and sliced raw meat. Decadent. Full body. Round and creamy tannins in texture. So polished and beautiful. It goes on for minutes. 96% cabernet sauvignon with petit verdot. Give this two or three years to come together. Better after 2021.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Starting with the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon, this ripe, sexy red comes all from Rutherford and has a big nose of sweet blueberries, plums, dark chocolate, tobacco, and spice. It's not for those looking for lightweight aromas and flavors, yet it wears its ripe fruit well, showing full-bodied richness, good purity, and a lively feel on the palate. Drink this hedonistic blockbuster over the coming 10-15 years.
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.