Flavor descriptors:
Our 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon delivers mouth filling, deeply intense blackberry fruit across the palate with clove and cardamom spice complexity and dusty tannins that add structure to the juicy fullness of the fruit.
Vintage:
Generous winter rains helped alleviate the drought conditions of the past four years, and the 2016 growing season started early. Throughout the summer months, we enjoyed cooler than average daytime highs and cool evenings, providing balancing acidity to our sun-ripened grapes. The near-perfect growing season continued through harvest and our grapes were safely in the cellar as the valley's first significant rainstorm arrived late October. We are grateful for a fifth consecutive vintage of stellar quality Napa Valley wines. Our selected grapes for our Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wine were picked between September 9th an October 11th.
Vineyards:
Fruit for our Napa Valley Cabernet includes two of the valley’s most renowned sub-appellations: Oakville, located on a well-drained alluvial bench, and Stag’s Leap district, coming from our Wappo Hill Vineyard. The varying mesoclimates and soils of these vineyard sites elicit a wonderfully concentrated, expressive, and classic Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and are combined with fruit from a number of the area’s finest vineyards for the perfect expression of the region.
Winemaking:
The grapes were hand harvested into small bins and carefully sorted in our gravity-flow cellar. The clusters were gently de-stemmed directly into traditional oak tanks for cold soak, fermentation and extended maceration-a total of 24 days of wine to skin contact--maximizing the extraction of varietal character and complexity while keeping the tannins fleshy and supple. The new wine was drained and gently pressed into French oak barrels (19% new) for malolactic fermentation, assuring seamless integration of fruit and oak. The final blend was assembled through repeated tasting trials over the 17 months of barrel aging. The wine was bottled in May 2018.
Varietal composition:
85% Cabernet Sauvignon
7% Petit Verdot
5% Merlot
3% Cabernet Franc
Total acid: 6.3 g/L
Final pH: 3.71
Residual sugar: 0.29 g/L
Alcohol: 14.5% by volume
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) is a gorgeous wine. Dark cherry, plum, chocolate, new leather and licorice flesh out in a supple, easygoing Cabernet that will drink well out of the gate. The sumptuous, crowd-pleasing style is sure to find a wide and hugely appreciative audience. Moreover, it is a tremendous value. Dark cherry, spice and pretty floral notes accent the succulent, racy finish. There is so much to like. Mondavi’s Napa Valley Cabernet draws from a wide range of sources across the appellation. - Vinous Media 90 Points
