2016 was the last of four long years of drought which had a profound impact on the grapevines growing conditions. With little water in the ground the vines started their growing season earlier each year during the drought. 2016 was by far the earliest we had seen vines bud out in over a decade but luckily there was no frost in the spring. The summer was moderate allowing plenty of hang time into the fall even with an early harvest. The smaller crop load allowed generous flavor development in the vineyard.

After three years of aging, the ’16 vintage has lived up to the ripe, luscious, fruit-forward character we expected all along. Aromas of deep, red-black fruits combine with hints of tobacco and cedar, giving way to a lively palate. A concentrated, juicy core of cassis, blackberry, and red currant is framed by firm, but polished, tannins, the result of a phenomenal vintage. Two years in French oak have added complex layers of cooking spice and cedar to balance the abundant fruit. This Oakville site consistently allows us to produced structured, ageworthy Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2016 is a wine that will improve for a decade or more in the cellar, but—as with our past vintages—is quite approachable now.

The Cabernet fruit was hand-picked into macro bins, then sorted and de-stemmed and crushed into stainless steel tanks. Cold soaking was carried out over 24 hours, and the must was inoculated and pumped over one to three times per day, then pressed before finishing primary fermentation. Once dry, the wine was racked to barrel and inoculated for malolactic fermentation. It was racked again at the conclusion of secondary fermentation and twice more before bottling. Though it was filtered, owing to its time in barrel, fining was not necessary.