Lail J. Daniel Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
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Robert -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Suckling
James
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
One-hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon aged 20 months in 75% new French oak, the 2016 J Daniel Cuvee is deep garnet-purple in color and offers up exuberant notes of crème de cassis, chocolate-covered cherries, wild blueberries, violets and unsmoked cigars with touches of garrigue, fragrant earth, powdered cinnamon, black olives and tree bark. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is built like a brick house, with a solid frame of firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness supporting the taut, muscular fruit, finishing long and minerally. 950 cases produced.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvee takes things up to whole other level and is a thrill a minute. Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, from the Mole Hill, Vine Hill Ranch, and Heimark vineyards that spent 20 months in 75% new oak, it sports a deep purple color as well as a spectacular bouquet of crème de cassis, black raspberries, graphite, and spicy oak. Possessing incredible purity, full-bodied richness, building structure, and a big finish, it’s a quintessential, age-worthy Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that I suspect will require more than a decade to hit prime time and will keep for 3+ decades. Bravo!
Rating: 98+ -
James Suckling
Love the green olives, blackberries and sweet tobacco. Hints of walnuts and wet earth. Full-bodied yet reserved and very tight with beautiful richness and focus. Dense and exciting. A blend of Oakville and Howell Mountain. Great Napa cab. Try after 2022.
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Wine
Robin Daniel Lail’s heritage began in 1879 with the founding of Inglenook Vineyards by her great -granduncle, the iconic Captain Gustave Niebaum. By the early 1890s, this brilliant man’s obsession for achieving the pinnacle of excellence earned Inglenook wines the status of being considered by many as the finest produced in the country.
The determination to achieve excellence was carried forward through the decades following Niebaum’s death in 1908, with a crescendo in the thirty years following the repeal of Prohibition under the meticulous, passionate stewardship of John Daniel, Jr., Robin’s father. The collection of Cabernets coming from his years of ownership is still celebrated today as some of the finest red wines on earth.
Although Inglenook was sold in 1964, the passion for winemaking did not fade. Robin inherited her father’s respect for tradition. After working as the personal assistant to her mentor, Robert Mondavi, for five years, she left in 1982 to co-found Dominus Estate with Christian Moueix. The following year she co-founded Merryvale Vineyards with Bill Harlan, serving as president for a decade, before finally launching on her eponymous venture, Lail Vineyards, with her two daughters in 1995. Today her family honors his legacy with their relentless pursuit to produce wines second to none.