Winemaker Notes
Offering an incredibly complex bouquet of red and black fruits, new saddle leather, dried flowers, and garrigue. A seamless texture, medium to full body, silky tannins, and a singular, complex character all make for a brilliant wine that’s already drinking great today.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Last of the 2016s (I wasn’t able to taste their Collection cuvee), the 2016 Vicarious Red Wine is the mixed blend of the estate and it’s made in slightly larger quantities (although it’s still tiny). The 2016 offers a an incredibly complex bouquet of red and black fruits, new saddle leather, dried flowers, and garrigue. A seamless texture, medium to full body, silky tannins, and a singular, complex character all make for a brilliant wine that’s already drinking great today. It should keep for 10-15 years or more.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Proprietary Red Vicarious is blended of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 15% Syrah and 5% Cabernet Franc and aged for 22 months in 65% new French oak. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it features plum preserves, earth, cassis, tapenade and Indian spices with floral sparks and aniseed on the nose. The medium to full-bodied palate is plush, lively, spicy and seductive, finishing long.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.