TOR Cimarossa Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
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Robert
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Jeb
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James
Suckling -
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Spectator
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Cimarossa means "red hill top" in Italian, which aptly defines this very special hillside vineyard, planted on a volcanic cinder cone. The elevation is 2,100 feet, and the soils are predominately red volcanic rock and dust. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Cimarossa Vineyard gives up cassis, blackberry pie, blueberry tart and earth with notions of spices, camphor, meat and wood smoke. Full-bodied, firm and grainy, the palate is packed with fruit and spices, finishing layered, very long and savory.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Deeply colored, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Cimarossa Vineyard comes from a site on Howell Mountain sitting at around 2,100 feet above sea-level on a west facing slope. It has a textbook Howell mountain profile with its blueberries, black cherries, conifer, savory herbs, and graphite-like aromas and flavors. This rich, powerful, beautifully textured, layered mountain wine has silky tannins, perfect balanced, and a great finish.
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James Suckling
This is a solid red from here and probably the best I have tasted. Full-bodied and firm with a cylinder of ripe tannins and intense fruit. Lots of spicy and dark-fruit character. Some crushed stones. Dusty texture. Fun and excellent.
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Wine Spectator
Solidly built, with intense black currant and blackberry pâte de fruit notes liberally lined with bramble, licorice snap and tar details. Dense and compact, but this bristles with energy and should unwind nicely in the cellar. Best from 2020 through 2032.
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Robert
Parker
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.
Today Cabernet Sauvignon is the star of this part of Napa’s rugged, eastern hills, but Zinfandel was responsible for giving the Howell Mountain growing area its original fame in the late 1800s.
Winemaking in Howell Mountain was abandoned during Prohibition, and wasn’t reawakened until the arrival of Randy Dunn, a talented winemaker famous for the success of Caymus in the 1970s and 1980s. In the early eighties, he set his sights on the Napa hills and subsequently astonished the wine world with a Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Shortly thereafter Howell Mountain became officially recognized as the first sub-region of Napa Valley (1983).
With vineyards at 1,400 to 2,000 feet in elevation, they predominantly sit above the fog line but the days in Howell Mountain remain cooler than those in the heart of the valley, giving the grapes a bit more time on the vine.
The Howell Mountain AVA includes 1,000 acres of vineyards interspersed by forestlands in the Vaca Mountains. The soils, shallow and infertile with good drainage, are volcanic ash and red clay and produce highly concentrated berries with thick skins. The resulting wines are full of structure and potential to age.
Today Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petite Sirah thrive in this sub-appellation, as well as its founding variety, Zinfandel.