Cardinale : Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

The deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Proprietary Red Wine is blended of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Merlot. It opens with compelling chocolate box and licorice scents over a core of black and red currants, warm plums and baking spices with hints of cedar chest and pencil lead. The palate is full-bodied with layers of cassis and kirsch flavors framed by firm, grainy tannins and fabulous freshness, finishing long and spicy. 4,772 cases produced.

Warm and rich in feel, with a multilayered beam of plum and cassis flavors, laced with smoldering vanilla bean, tobacco and loam notes. Black licorice details lurk in the background. Ends with a broad swath of fruit and smoke. Drink now through 2032. 4,772 cases made.

Along with its sister brand Lokoya, Cardinale is the crown jewel of Jackson Family Estates. Longtime winemaker Chris Carpenter’s nickname is 'mountain man'—a reference to his experience making wines from all four of Napa’s top mountain districts: Diamond Mountain, Spring Mountain, Mt. Veeder and Howell Mountain. Cardinale is a delicious symphony of mountain grapes from all of them. Very nuanced, with flavours that exude spiciness, savoriness, minerality, and a noble bitterness. Extraordinarily long.

This shows lots of dark fruit, sage, blueberries, ink and blackberries. Medium to full body with ultra-fine tannins and intensity and beauty. Linear and polished. Needs two to four years to soften. Better from 2022.

Just about as close to perfection as a wine can get, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon from winemaker Chris Carpenter comes mostly from mountain vineyards and is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Merlot. This full-bodied, rounded, thrillingly textured beauty boasts a saturated purple color as well as a huge nose of crème de cassis, new saddle leather, barbecue smoke, and scorched earth. It has perfect integration of its fruit, tannins, acidity, and oak, carries remarkable power and intensity, yet still glides over the palate with no heaviness or sensation of weight. It’s going to be a legendary Napa Valley Cabernet and will have 3 decades or more of longevity.

Concentrated black fruits, kirsch and damson; this is pristine yet exuberant, full of life and pleasure, focusing on espresso, mocha, damson, cassis, cocoa bean, with softer waves of rose petals and iris. Just seven vineyards provide the fruit source in this vintage, with over half located on Spring Mountain. Even after 24 hours it’s clearly still structured in its tannic architecture, suggesting years ahead to enjoy the wine. 100% French oak, 93% new. Christopher Carpenter winemaker, bottled unfiltered and unfined.

Purple with violet highlights. A multifaceted bouquet marked by spicy and fruity notes. It reveals itself slowly and shows great composure. On the palate, the attack is compact and creamy. Great precision in this wine with lovely consistency, both on the nose and on the palate. It will need time to fully reveal its potential, but what it shows now is already very promising.

With 11% Merlot, the grapes sourced from multiple stellar sites, this captivating red impresses in its firm grasp of complex herb and spice. Sage, clove and woody tannin grip a core of currant, cranberry and high-toned red fruit, the texture dusty and lengthy. This will do well in the cellar, but is equally irresistible now.