Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A towering young wine, laden with gorgeously pure plum, boysenberry and blackberry puree flavors, showing flashes of violet and apple wood. Beautifully rendered, with power, grace and beguiling perfume throughout, revealing a long, refined structure through the finish. Best from 2021 through 2035.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2016 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon is bold, concentrated, and long-lasting. TASTING NOTES: This wine brings the unbridled power of black fruits, licorice, and oak well-melded together. Enjoy it with a grilled Porterhouse topped with a block of creamy blue-veined cheese. (Tasted: September 9, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep purple-black in color, the barrel sample of 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon gives up notes of black raspberries, kirsch and roses over a core of cassis and warm blackberries plus hints of pencil lead, bay leaves and menthol. Full-bodied with a well-played frame of approachable, chewy tannins, it has plenty of black and red fruit layers with a savory finish.
Barrel Sample: 92-95
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.