Country: USA Region: Napa Valley Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon Vintage: 2016 Colour: Red Style: Dry Producer: Chateau Montelena Description: The wines here at Chateau Montelena are often described as having classic “old-world” structure with ripe California fruit, and it is in years like 2010 that this really shines through. What that means is that these wines tend to have more acid, lower pH, and more moderate alcohol levels as compared to some of the flashy “modern” Cabs. This classic chemistry allows them to pair very well with a wide variety of dishes and sets them up for graceful aging. The beauty of our style is that you get all the wonderful ripe flavours that California is known for, but with much more expression of place, and without all the noise and distraction of high alcohols and overwhelming new oak flavours. Tasting Note: This wine shows deep dense plum colour with great density. The nose opens with anise and spice before moving into rich layers of blackberry and cherry compote. All that great concentrated fruit is beautifully complemented with barrel tones of vanilla and clove. It is quite youthful and lively on the palate with a good firm acid core - great for food pairing - and abundant velvety tannin. Complex layers of black fruits through the mid palate, with good barrel spice underlayment throughout, are nicely complemented by bright red fruit on the finish. This wine is quite approachable so young, but it will definitely improve with additional time in the bottle, if you've got the patience. If you do plan to drink it now, I'd recommend decanting it in order to help it open up even more. Food Matches:Beef / Venison / Lamb / Cheese