Winemaker Notes
The 2016 Seavey Cabernet Sauvignon is a restrained but powerful wine that promises several decades of classic aging. It leads with Seavey’s characteristic core of savory notes, including warm earth and crushed rock, yet offers an extraordinary concentration of luscious dark fruit flavors—blackberry, ganache, and cassis—likely due to the mild weather of the harvest season that allowed the grapes a few extra weeks to develop their flavors on the vine.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Seavey Vineyard is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (as with the '14, '15, and '16) brought up in 62% new French oak. It's a deep, powerful wine that has everything a classic Napa Cabernet lover could want. Notes of cassis, lead pencil shavings, graphite, and crushed rock all emerge from this beauty, which has a classic Pauillac-like austerity and style.
Rating: 98+
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a 100% varietal wine made by Jim Duane and Philippe Melka from estate-grown grapes. Bright, expansive and plush, it offers considerable length, breadth and beauty—an earthy concoction of crushed rock and black pepper laced between layers of cassis and blackberry. The tannins are polished and integrated well.
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James Suckling
A firm, juicy red with blueberry, black-olive and fresh-herb character. Full-bodied, tight and chewy with a beautiful, savory finish. Hints of dried herbs and spice.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
One-hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 20 months in 62% new French oak, the deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate has quite a meaty/savory nose with notes of charcuterie, yeast extract and truffles with a core of warm cassis, blackberry compote and blueberry pie plus hints of menthol and cigar box. The palate is full-bodied with a wonderfully plush texture and seamless freshness lifting the generous fruit, finishing on a savory note.
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.