2016 Stagecoach Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon - Stringer Cellars
Ripe black currant, smoldering tobacco, fresh blueberry. Creme de cassis, blooming violet, tart black raspberry. Roasted peppers and mountain pine, French vanilla and mulling spices. Blackberry compote, dark cherry, and acai muddle brilliantly with toasted wood and cigar in subtly smoky and wonderfully tense attack. Sage, menthol, and eucalyptus quickly emerge bringing a driving herbal edge that is blissfully lifted by rose petal and a remarkably perfumed floral bouquet. A barrage of bright and delicate spices highlighted by cumin, coriander, and cinnamon complement beautiful softness before the finish shifts towards complicating tones of bitter cacao and volcanic earth. Nearly bursting with pent up energy yet still somehow maintaining impressive balance, elegance, and restraint. Intellectual, classically styled, and intensely structured; full bodied and high in tannin with elevated acidity. This 2016 Stagecoach Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon by Stringer Cellars is an outstanding and age-worthy single vineyard red from Napa Valley's Pritchard Hill.
Located in the Vaca Mountains just east of Oakville, Pritchard Hill is an unofficial growing zone that is considered by many to produce some of Napa Valley's greatest wines. This bottling, crafted by Stringer Cellars using Cab Sauv sourced from the Pritchard Hill portion of the legendary Stagecoach Vineyard, is an excellent example of just how special this pocket of vines truly is. While thoroughly ripe and concentrated this wine is impressively terroir expressive, and its notable emphasis on nuance in lieu of sheer power is highly admirable. Its unique smoky and herbal notes along with a pure expression of mountain soils differentiate it from many of the valley floor's more fruit-driven offerings, and its firm structure promises continued development of tertiary subtlety for years. Simply excellent Cabernet.