Winemaker Notes
Deep garnet purple in color, this 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon has licorice, crème de cassis and mocha aromas with an underlying hint of smoked meat and cardamom. This is a big and rich wine with fine-grained tannins and concentrated flavors of berry preserves with spicy layers and a velvety texture. The finish is long and harmonious with lingering mineral notes.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
One of the true superstars in the portfolio is the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon District Collection Generations, which is even better than the 2015. Brought up in just over half new barrels, it has an incredible bouquet of crème de cassis and blackberry fruits intermixed with lots of spice, fruitcake, and earthy minerality. Possessing full-bodied richness, a sensational sense of opulence with no weight, ripe tannins, and a great, great finish, hats off to winemaker Stephanie Putnam for another brilliant Cabernet Sauvignon that can be drunk today with incredible pleasure or cellared for 20-25 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Generations (aged for 20 months in 54% new French oak) is scented of licorice, crème de cassis and mocha with underlying hints of smoked meats, tapenade, dried lavender and cardamom. Big, rich and concentrated and with firm, fine-grained tannins, it has lovely harmony and length, with minerals coming through on the finish.
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Wine Spectator
A big, broad style, with a swath of baker's chocolate laid over a core of steeped black currant and blackberry fruit. The finish is paved with tar, licorice root and loam elements, while the fruit keeps up, ending with a roasted alder detail. Best from 2022 through 2032.
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James Suckling
Violets and ripe blueberries on the nose make for an attractive cabernet that delivers a very plush and fleshy feel on the palate with abundant ripe plums and blackberries. Drink or hold.
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Wine & Spirits
An herbal cabernet in a lean, elegant claret style, this has clean black fruit and juicy-crunchy flavors of cloud-ear mushrooms to point up its umami side. While the structure feels cool and light, the tannins have a tough, youthful grip, setting the stage for a long evolution in bottle. (
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Wine Enthusiast
Robust in tobacco, black pepper and toasted oak, this robustly ripe wine is thick in plum and dark cherry, with a brooding quality to the fruit. Supple tannins provide structure and softness, adding length to the rich, layered finish.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.