Profile

The 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon displays the brilliance or our Titus Ranch Estate with the preponderance of the Cabernet for this year’s wine coming from this vineyard site. The sandy soils on the property and limited irrigation throughout the growing season make for wines with beautiful depth and lushness of tannin. The 2016 exhibits aromas of pomegranate, bing cherry, crushed flowers, sweet herbs, dried cranberries, and mocha. The delightful aromas follow through to the mouth-filling and concentrated palate with flavors of French plum, mission fig, fruit leather, cocoa powder, and espresso. The tannins and acid provide freshness and grace to the wine that makes it tasty and approachable. Enjoy now through 2026.

Vinification

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested in the two-week period from September 27th-October 12th of 2016. All the 2016 fruit was fully harvested before the rain started to fall on the 14th. It was gently destemmed and then pumped to a tank. It was fermented on the skins from 10-14 days and then drained at the completion of alcoholic fermentation. After draining it was racked to 55% new barrels (50% of which are Hungarian Oak, 40% French Oak and 10% American Oak) to barrels for aging. It was then racked quarterly for the first year before being racked to tank in May 2018 for bottling.

Vintage

It isn’t often that you can claim a near-perfect growing season, but in 2016 we could do just that. Moderate rainfall, a low number of frost hours and another mild spring lead to early bud break into flowering and then to fruit set in a steady rhythm. July and August were relatively mild - perfect for veraison - with warmer days coming in September and the beginning of October. 2016 marks the fifth consecutive stellar vintage of Napa Valley wines, another pearl on the strand for quality perfection.

Vineyard

Our family vineyard is located on 40 acres of Napa Valley floor just north of St. Helena on the Silverado Trail. It has well-drained, sandy, alluvial soils and is characterized by its ability to produce complex wines with well-defined fruit flavors, gentle acids, and naturally balanced tannins. The five blocks of Cabernet planted on this vineyard are picked and aged separately, then blended to create our Napa Valley Cabernet.