Winemaker Notes
Reveling in tension and potential, the coiled and energetic 2016 Staglin Cabernet is remarkable for its facets. Midnight dark fruits collide with forested earth amidst herbal delights that bring effusive lift and vibrant resonance to this concentrated elixir. Black raspberries, blackcurrants and black cherries mulled with cardamom, nutmeg and finely ground black pepper converge over pecan wood roasted meats hinted with fresh cedar shavings and rubbed rosemary resulting in a delightfully dark concoction that thrills the senses.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
I continue to simply love the 2016s, which come close to rivaling the 2013s, albeit with a more elegant character. Another pure class release from this great estate, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated blend that includes small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, all aged 20 months in mostly new French oak. Its deep purple/plum color is followed by classic Rutherford notes of blackcurrants, cedar pencil, chocolaty herbs, licorice, and hints of truffle. It's beautifully balanced, full-bodied, and seamless on the palate, and while it's less overt and sexy than the 2015, it shows the class, balance, purity, and length that makes 2016 such a special vintage. It offers pleasure today and will offer pleasure in another 20-25 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate bursts out of the glass with beautiful black cherry compote, warm cassis and freshly crushed blackberries scents plus touches of chargrill, violets, dark chocolate and pencil shavings and a waft of English lavender. Full-bodied, the palate features great intensity combined with fantastic freshness, textured by soft, finely grained tannins and lifted by the most gorgeous floral perfume, finishing long and layered. Beautiful wine.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2016 Staglin Family Vineyard Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is charming and decisive in its performance, bringing power and style to the fore. TASTING NOTES: This wine excels with aromas and flavors of boysenberries, an accent of flowers, and a touch of oak. Try it with grilled short ribs in traditional beef pho. (Tasted: September 10, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
A focused cabernet sauvignon that shows aromas of blueberries, tar, light tobacco and assertively toasty oak influence. Full-bodied with ripe and well integrated tannins that flow through to a spicy and fresh finish. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Warm and alluring in feel, featuring creamy yet structured layers of crushed red currant, plum and raspberry fruit. Long, with threads of leather, cedar, savory and warm tobacco filling in throughout. A very steady Cabernet that should age well. Best from 2020 through 2032.
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.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.