Winemaker Notes
With inviting aromas of dark spices and currants that mingle with fresh raspberry and blueberry, our 2016 Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon tempts the palate. The round and plush entry is complemented by toasted oak and a fruit compote creating a velvety texture that coats the mouth. Flavors of dark berry fruits and spices continue through to the long and rich finish creating a wine of great density.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
From a near-perfect vintage in Napa Valley, this wine sources fruit from organic and Biodynamic vineyards in Rutherford. Aged 19 months in French oak, it’s a Cab-dominant red (90%) that also comprises some Petit Verdot, Merlot, Malbec, and Petite Sirah. Aromas of cigar leaf, strawberry preserves, and black fruit merge before graphite and coffee bean arise on the palate.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is a smoking value and has high-quality Cabernet notes of crème de cassis, spice, vanilla bean, and fruitcake-like nuances. It’s charming, sweetly fruited, medium to full-bodied, and certainly already delicious.
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James Suckling
This offers a ripe array of blackcurrants and attractive, violet-like florals, leading to a palate that has a suave, rich and ripe feel and delivers a spice-laced finish. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Composed of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Merlot, 2% Malbec and 1% Petite Sirah, aged for 20 months in 38% new French oak, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Reserve is deep garnet-purple in color. Just bottled last week, it's already showing open and expressive blackberries, blackcurrant and warm plums notes with touches of tobacco leaf and underbrush plus a waft of menthol. The palate is medium to full-bodied with lovely freshness and vibrancy, textured with plush tannins and finishing with a menthol lift.
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Wine Enthusiast
This large-scale red is approachable in dense red fruit, thick, supple tannin and integrated oak. Rhubarb, dark cherry, clove and orange peel combine across a full-bodied palate of richness and length.
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Wine & Spirits
This is the kind of simple, clearly stated varietal cabernet that’s rare today in Napa Valley. It’s not ambitious or aggressively extracted, just firmly defined in its juicy tannins and red-currant undertones. Smoke, coffee and cherry-compote flavors emerge with air, though the best thing about the wine remains its silky texture.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Raymond Vineyard & Cellar has undergone many changes throughout the decades. I first tasted the wines in the mid-1970s, when the Raymonds were involved. Now time-traveling to the present, we see a very different brand. Quality remains high, and the 2016 Reserve Cabernet is quite excellent. TASTING NOTES: This wine is flavorful and ready to enjoy. Its aromas and flavors of black fruit and savory spices make it a beautiful wine with casual get-togethers. (Tasted: October 23, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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.