Pina Napa Valley Firehouse Vineyard Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
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Robert
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Jeb Dunnuck
From a rocky vineyard in Rutherford, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Firehouse Vineyard is a regal, majestic Cabernet that has beautiful notes of crème de cassis, black raspberries, and toasted spices, with an almost mountain fruit-like quality in its aromatics as well as its structure and texture on the palate. Medium to full-bodied, seamlessly constructed, tannic and backward, yet also perfectly balanced, do your best to hide bottles for 4-5 years and it should cruise over the following two decades
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
One-hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon aged 20 months in 68% new French oak, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Firehouse Vineyard is deep garnet-purple in color and offers up exuberant crème de cassis, stewed plums and blueberry compote notes with touches of dark chocolate, star anise, pencil lead and menthol. Full-bodied and beautifully structured with firm grainy tannins and seamless freshness, it packs in the muscular fruit, finishing on a long-lasting earthy note.
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The Piña family’s roots in the Napa Valley are deep—eight generations deep—a fact that gives them no small amount of gravitas when it comes to producing wines of great distinction. Today, the wine industry is one of the last bastions of family farming in this country—a fact that the Piña family never takes for granted. With a foundation built on a storied past, this remarkable family has been making wine commercially for over 30 years, and has been making wines and tending Napa Valley vineyards for over 150 years. It’s no surprise that the Piña family, with its eight generations of expertise, is responsible for crafting award-winning wines with Winemaker Anna Monticelli at the helm capturing the true essence of Napa Valley.
Piña Napa Valley was built in 1981 on the grounds of the family’s heritage home on the Silverado Trail. Currently managed by John, Larry, Ranndy and Davie Piña, the winery and vineyards are renowned for their place in Napa Valley’s history.
After traveling to California, their great-great-grandfather Bluford Stice found that the vast open space at the edge of the continent appealed to his adventurous spirit. So in 1856, he led a wagon train and brought his family to the Napa Valley all the way from Missouri. His father, Moses Stice, began growing grapes in the Napa Valley in the 1860s. Bluford’s son, Lafayette, was born in Napa Valley in 1860 and went on to become a leader in the Napa Valley wine industry at the turn of the twentieth century; his achievements as a winemaker at Harris Winery (now Martin Estate), Brun and Chaix Winery (now Ladera) and Inglenook Winery are widely documented in Napa Valley’s historical records. Lafayette grew grapes and made wine from vineyards just south of St. Helena, where Stice Lane is today.
By 1960, with a reputation as a meticulous vineyard manager, John Piña Jr. opened his own business. This successful enterprise became Piña Vineyard Management, recognized as one of the leading vineyard management companies in California today.
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.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.