Both bud break and flowering occurred a bit late, but under ideal weather conditions, creating plentiful and even fruit set. It was the star of the season.”. 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Sterling has more than five decades of winemaking excellence in Napa Valley, and winemaker Harry Hansen is able to build from that experience to select the finest lots to create the most memorable expressions of the varietal for each vintage. With warm days and cool nights, our team was able to maintain ideal acid levels with optimum, bright fruit flavors. Many people compare Napa with Bordeaux because of the grape varieties, but in truth, Napa has more in common with Burgundy than Bordeaux when it comes to how the vineyard land is divided and how the individual bottlings/labels are done. It was an El Niño year, which heavily influences weather systems, particularly in … Winemakers are excited by the potential quality of the young wines. With local plant data the focus of the discussion, the Vintage Report dissected the previous harvest and explained results from a climatic and plant physiological perspective. “The grape harvest is, first and foremost, getting the grapes off the vine and to the winery,” said Dawnine Dyer of Dyer Vineyard. The Napa Valley Vintners nonprofit trade association has been cultivating excellence since 1944 by inspiring its more than 525 members to consistently produce wines of the highest quality, to provide environmental leadership and to care for the extraordinary place they call home. 2016 offered another near-perfect vintage in Napa Valley! It's always a relief to have the crop in the winery where we begin the slower, more controlled, process of making the wines.”, Throughout Napa Valley, harvest duties have transitioned from 24-hour days and seven-day weeks in the vineyard to ‘pump-overs, punch-downs and barreling down’ in the cellar, terms that refer to the next phase of the winemaking process. Napa Valley delivered another exceptional vintage in 2014. Brilliance in Napa Valley: The 2016 & 2015 Cabernets. BY ANTONIO GALLONI I JULY 19, 2017. The 2015 Growing Season Napa Valley Trilogy: 2014, 2015 & 2016, Antonio Galloni, December 2016. In the vineyard, evapotranspiration sensors help vintners and growers determine how often and how much to water their vines, information critical to efficient water management. Receive updates about Napa Valley wine and events. 08 Apr 2020. And this isn’t the first time I’ve heard a comment about Napa regularly receiving what appears to be a very high or seemingly disproportionate number of 100-point scores in an epic vintage, especially compared to the motherland of Bordeaux blends: Bordeaux. ex. Two thousand sixteen is shaping up to be another high quality vintage for Napa Valley. A warm spring led to early bud break and created the perfect environment for flowering and fruit set. The 2015, 2016 and 2017 vintages have all been remarkable in their own way, and it is a function of the manner in which vintage … $150 Retail Price. Even better, the 2014s will be easier to … Learn more at napavintners.com. 18 Nov 2020. From Wine Journal It was spared in the second most destructive wildfire season in California’s history, behind only 2020. 2015 Napa Valley – First Impressions, Antonio Galloni, June 2016. The 1994 Vintage. Lighter reds, like Pinot Noir, will start entering the market by late summer and early fall of next year. Despite a year with considerable challenges and low yields, 2015 is shaping up to be a vintage of opulent, voluptuous wines with real personality and character. Aromatic white wines, like Sauvignon Blanc, will be the first Napa Valley wines to be released in early 2017. It was absent of challenges that plagued many of the previous years, ranging from drought, low yields and heatwaves. 707.968.4210. In Napa, nearly 80% of the wineries produce less than 10,000 cases and most of their “Grand Vin” equivalents equate to less than 1,000 cases in a vintage, sometimes as little as only 100-200 cases. BY ANTONIO GALLONI | DECEMBER 29, 2016 . “It is replete with the unique question of ripeness, the status of the vineyard and the urgency of weather. This allowed gradual and consistent ripening with phenolics and sugar content developing in synch. He was reflecting on the past three harvests in the Douro Valley, which have put the Port shippers in something of a quandary.. From Wine Journal 2016 was a no-drama vintage for growers. Is it possible that 2016 will be the fifth great vintage in a row for Napa Valley? The 7th edition of the Napa Vintage Report In its seventh year, the 2016 Napa Vintage Report brought together the most innovative and scientific minds to discuss the most recent vintage. The 2016 Vintage Report aimed to provide an engaging platform for winemakers and grape growers to share their experiences with the 2016 vintage, and share new technology and research advances and their … Brix Restaurant Manager Jamie … “I don’t know what to say other than somebody up there really loves us,” commented Linda Neal, owner of Tierra Roja Vineyards in Oakville. For several reasons outlined in the introduction of my report, I believe 2016 to be the best, most consistent Napa Valley vintage among a string of five great years: 2012-2016. “We were able to pick as much as we needed to in a day, even more than our past maximum tonnage, and it processed the fruit faster and in a higher quality than ever before. See reviews and pricing for the 2016 vintage. The wines are bright, energetic and focused, with tons of character and pedigree. #3 - The grapes may be picked, but the work isn’t over yet. The 2018 Napa harvest ended on a high note this fall. On review were 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines made from grapes grown on the valley floor and benchlands. The Westin Verasa Napa, 1314 McKinstry St, Napa, CA 9455 Toggle navigation. The first wines from this harvest will be on store shelves by early next year. The 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is plush and inviting, with an enticing array of brambly blackberry fruit along with raspberry sorbet notes alongside nuances of lifted violet, allspice, sweet cinnamon, clove, cedar and crushed bay leaves. Conversely, Beckstoffer’s Dr. Crane vineyard in Napa produced three tiny production, 100-point wines in 2016 from three different wineries. The 2016s continue to impress with their dazzling aromatic presence, finesse and nuance. © 2021 Napa Valley Vintners ALL Rights Reserved. The 1985 vintage was arguably the best of the decade for Napa, and these wines continue to impress more than 30 years later. As a critic, if you subscribe to the premise that there is such a thing as a 100-point wine, then you must also embrace that there can never be predetermined limits to the number of wines that can receive 100-points from a great region in a great year such as the 2016 vintage in Napa Valley. 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