Vintage 2016 gave us yet another beautiful vintage in the Napa Valley. This following the fabulous vintages of 2012-2015. Marked by a few late-season heat spells, the wines are as opulent as the 2012s, with the concentration of the 2014s. Wine lots and barrels selected for “The Point” Cabernet Sauvignon don’t necessarily come from a particular spot on the estate (à la Vineyard Designate), but rather share common flavor and structural attributes that highlight explosive fruit, spicy wood, mouth-filling tannins, and alcoholic warmth. Most of you have visited the winery and taken the walk out to look over the Napa Valley from our promontory. The heady aromatics and sun-drenched fruit flavors of “The Point” are inspired by this lofty view. Everything about the 2016 “The Point” Cabernet evokes the shimmering hot summer days up here on the mountain. There is something “melted” about this wine. The color is like reddish black tar. The leading aroma is dominated by melted black and red licorice candy smells followed up by super-ripe or sunbaked blackberries. The oak contributes a vanilla extract headiness to the fruit and spice. This wine is the perfect cold weather sipping wine!