2016 Cervantes Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

The 2016 vintage in Napa Valley is being heralded as one of richness, density, and varietal purity. The second vintage from the hillsides of the Cervantes ranch blessed us with a growing season that was long, warm but relatively mild. These conditions allowed the grapes to fully mature with a noteworthy balance between tannin, acid, and aromatics.

At the winery, the grapes were carefully sorted and delivered to the tanks without crushing. We fermented with careful attention to preserving aromas and freshness, while extracting the right amount of tannin and building the mid-palate. The wines were drained and pressed to French oak barrels for 22 months of aging to further contour the mouthfeel of the wine and plait the many layers of flavor and texture. The resulting wine has an ever-growing list of aromas, from raspberry and sage, to cardamom, orange peel, cedar, black licorice, and newly tanned leather. The longer the wine sits in the glass, the more layers are revealed.

The wine’s brilliant red-purple hue hints at its dense fruit core, which is followed on the palate by a rush of baking spices, incense, orange oil, and completed by a mouthwatering, savory finish. It has “great bones,” a proper tannic scaffold to support the wine as it ages. While accessible now with a careful decanting, the 2016 Cervantes will continue its beautiful journey and gain complexity over many years to come.

ANDY ERICKSON | WINEMAKER