Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Also borderline perfection, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain District offers more conifer and pine forest notes as well as vivid blueberry fruits, a full-bodied, intense, layered mouthfeel, thrilling elegance, and a big finish. My note on this one was sprinkled with a few expletives and this wine has everything you could want from Cabernet Sauvignon. As with the other 2016s from Chris, 2-4 years of bottle age are recommended.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored and made up of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain gives up tantalizing notes of licorice, chocolate box and spearmint over a core of crushed blackcurrants, blackberries and kirsch plus wafts of roses and fertile loam. Full-bodied, firm and oh-so-minerally in the mouth, it has a solid structure of grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing on a lingering earthy note. 825 cases produced.
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Wine Spectator
This drips with cassis, plum, açaí berry and blueberry fruit. The display is nearly exotic, quickly harnessed by deeply embedded brambly grip and a mouthwatering iron note that extends through the long finish. A youthfully coiled wine that should cruise in the cellar. Best from 2025 through 2040.
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James Suckling
Big and chewy red with blueberries and blackberries and fresh-herb undertones. Full-bodied and chewy. Boisterous and solid. Needs five to six years to soften.
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.
Above the town of St. Helena on the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains sits the Spring Mountain District.
A dynamic region, its vineyards, cut by numerous springs and streams, vary in elevation, slope and aspect. Soils differ throughout with over 20 distinct types inside of the 8,600 acres that define the appellation. Within that area, only about 1,000 are planted to vineyards. Predominantly farmed by small, independent producers, the region currently has just over 30 wineries.
During the growing season, late afternoon Pacific Ocean breezes reach the Spring Mountain vineyards, which sit at between 400 and 1,200 feet. Daytime temperatures during mid summer and early fall remain slightly cooler than those of the valley floor.
Spring Mountain soils—volcanic matter and sedimentary rock—create intense but balanced reds with lush and delicate tannins. The area excels with Bordeaux varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot and in some cooler spots, Chardonnay.