Thomas Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

About This Wine

On the nose: An explosion of raspberry coulis, lavender chocolates, cassis jelly, crushed rocks, yellow cherries, cloves

On the palate: Soft, dense entrance evolving with fresh acidity, touches of red currant, boysenberry, black cherry, plum, dark chocolate 

Wine Profile

Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Fermentation: 100% barrel fermented

Aging: 22 months in French oak, 80% new, 20% 1-year-old barrels

Vintage Notes:

Thomas Vineyard, on a hillside west of Highway 29 at the northernmost point of Rutherford, was recently acquired by Alpha Omega and is named after its former owner, Don Thomas. This early-ripening site boasts soil that is rocky and has a higher sand content than on the valley floor. The result is a powerful wine with an elegant balance of structure and density. This site is set up as a vineyard laboratory with the latest technology to monitor the weather and water. This early-ripening site, paired with an early vintage like 2016, produced small, highly extractable berries which translated into a denser, more powerful wine.

2016 was a near-perfect growing season giving Napa Valley another winner in a string of historic vintages. Spring budbreak came early due to dry, warm soils from a drought winter. This produced a low ower count and smaller clusters. The thinner grape population-focused the vine’s energy into the smaller clusters resulting in very flavorful berries. Minimal heat spells and consistently cool nights across the summer months allowed the clusters to ripen slowly and evenly while protecting their vitally important natural acidity.