Antica Mountain Select Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
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James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine &
Spirits
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon is the inaugural vintage to carry the Mountain Select designation. As harvest nears each year, the Antica winegrowing team meticulously selects those mountain blocks, or rows within a block, that best highlight the characteristics for our desired style of Cabernet Sauvignon. Approximately 18% of the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon harvest was selected for the final blend of the Mountain Select Cabernet Sauvignon.
To maintain ultimate control of wine quality and style, the Antinori family’s guiding winemaking principle has been to own their own vineyards and grow their own grapes. This belief holds true with the historic family-owned vineyards in Tuscany and Umbria and extends to Antica Napa Valley. The 1,210-acre Antica Napa Valley estate occupies an elevated plateau tucked in an amphitheater-like setting of steep mountain tops rising to Atlas Peak with an elevation of 2,663 feet. There are approximately 550 acres planted to vineyard, 60% of which are Cabernet Sauvignon planted in 34 individual blocks. Each block was carefully planted to take advantage of the volcanic soil composition and high elevation with its abundant California sunshine and long growing season. Clonal selections were also grafted on the appropriate rootstocks to limit vine productivity.
Made with 100% Estate-Grown - 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A full and juicy red with berry and mushroom character, round and juicy tannins and a flavorful finish. Shows focus and tension. Drink after 2020.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine shows its mountain provenance in meaty, grippy and gritty tannins and a broad expansive weight on the palate. But beneath its brawn is beauty and a rounded lushness of delicious drinkability, a mix of brambly blackberry, cherry, cassis and crushed rock. Let it sit in the glass over time or consider cellaring. Enjoy 2026–2031.
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Wine & Spirits
The Antinori family had been partners in this project when they purchased the estate in 1993, now 1,200 acres on Atlas Peak, with 600 planted to vines. They farm cabernet at the property’s highest elevations (1,800 feet), where the cool nights sustain freshness in the fruit. In 2016, this wine ripened to generous, savory depths of flavor, sustaining that coolness in tart cherry notes and generous, black-mushroom flavors in the tannins. Decant it for bistecca alla fiorentina.
Other Vintages
2018-
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Spectator
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James
Suckling
ANTICA is a symbol for Antinori California and expresses in Italian our family's passion for winemaking passed along 26 generations.
Napa Valley has a special place in my heart beginning with my first visit in 1966, having the free spirit coming from a new frontier, a wonderful history, and the potential to produce world-class wines.
Our wine estate is located on a high plain in the eastern mountains of the celebrated Napa Valley. Its hilly terrain, rocky soils, high elevations and beautiful landscape create above all an estate ideal for winegrowing.
Marchese Piero Antinori - Proprietor
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Just northeast of Napa city, Atlas Peak boasts some of Napa Valley’s highest elevation vineyards. Here the intense sunlight coupled with cool, nighttime temperatures produce grapes that are perfectly ripe, balanced and concentrated. The appellation is rich in volcanic soils and excels in the production of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.