Jax Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
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Jeb
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Opening with aromas of blackberries, cassis and forest floor, this indulgent and concentrated Cabernet Sauvignon showcases great length and focus on the palate. Already elegant and well-structured at its release, this wine will continue to evolve in complexity and refinement for many years to come.
Blend: 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is plush, lush and fruity, interwoven with tones of cardamom and clove. The palate is rich in feel, bolstered by layers of orange peel, cassis and toasted oak flavors.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made up of 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc, the deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is scented of cedar, cassis and camphor with herbs and earth. The medium to full-bodied palate is vivacious with loads of fruit and a velvety texture with a refreshing finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon JAX Estate (97% Cabernet and 3% Cabernet Franc) is a juicy, forward, fruit bomb style effort that has notable purity in its jammy black and blue fruits, medium to full-bodied, good purity, and fine tannins. It's forward and ready to go but should keep nicely for 8-10 years. When considering Napa Valley, it's actually a lot of wine for the money.
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Brother and sister team, Trent and Kimberly Jackson collaborated with their vintner “green thumb” father to found their first label in 1996. Over time the two identified their unique niche among next generation wine enthusiasts. Outliers from the dominating short list of old school napa wineries, the two saw an opportunity to buck the “en vogue” winemaking style of their day to focus on the unique terroir of their family vineyard. After all, “change comes first at a small scale driven by the smaller more nimble producers.”
Soon after, cult Winemaker Kirk Venge was recruited to create balanced wines reflecting varietal character and a sense of place. Passionate about our vineyard site, integral to our clone and root stalk selections, and now 15 years in, Kirk has reinforced their instinct that focus should always be on “sense of place” to understand the nuances that allow us to make great wine.
To differentiate from their small lot single vineyard Jax line, they launched “Y3” to scale and offer more “true to varietal” wines from various AVAs (spanning Napa and Sonoma). The “Y3” symbol was the cattle symbol used on their grandparents’ cattle ranch, Yarrayne. The “3” represents three generations of land tilling entrepreneurs.
In 2013, the siblings recruited a third partner, Dan Parrott, a no nonsense individual with a laser focus on balanced wines (historically working in Italian import houses) and a true burgundian aficianado. Dan keeps the sibling rivalry in check and runs Jax like a well oiled machine.
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.
One of Napa Valley’s oldest wine growing subregions but last to gain appellation status, Calistoga occupies the northernmost section of the valley. Beginning at the foot of Mount St. Helena, its vineyards stretch over steep canyons and roll out onto the valley floor. The soils in Calistoga are volcanic, which means they are heavy in minerals, low in organic matter and allow good drainage for vine roots, creating less green growth and more concentration of flavor within the grape berries.
Summer days are very hot but most nights cool down with moist ocean breezes sneaking in over the Mayacamas Mountains or from Knights Valley to its northwest.
Cabernet Sauvignon is the area’s star variety with Zinfandel coming in a strong second, though the latter commands far less price per tonnage so continues to be outshined by Cabernet in vineyard acreage, save for some important exceptions.