Starting with the two 2016s and another tremendous wine from this estate, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve comes 67% from Napa Valley and 33% from Sonoma County. Based on 96% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot, it's ruby/purple hue is followed by a classic Pride Cabernet offering notes of blackcurrants, lead pencil, espresso, camphor, new saddle leather, and spicy oak. Beautifully concentrated, full-bodied, and with ripe tannins, it has nothing out of place, offers a multi-dimensional, layered texture, and builds incrementally on the palate, with flawless balance. It shows the more nuanced, classical style of the 2016 vintage and will cruise in cool cellars for two decades.

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is made up of 96% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot aged in roughly 50% new oak. Grapes come from own-rooted vines planted in 1982 on AXR rootstock—the roots are very deep and so not affected by phylloxera; 67% of the fruit came from Napa County and 33% from Sonoma County. Deep garnet-purple colored, it strides confidently out of the glass with classic cassis, fresh blackberries, warm plums and cedar chest notes followed by nuances of charcoal, pencil lead, camphor, chocolate box and black olives. Full-bodied, the palate is charged with fantastic energy, featuring bright, exuberant black berry and earthy flavors with a firm, ripe, finely grained frame, finishing long and lively. 1,484 cases produced.

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is fabulous. Rich, powerful and soaring in its intensity, the 2016 possesses tremendous depth and tons of structure. Swaths of tannin wrap around a core of dark fruit in this virile, imposing wine. Blackberry jam, graphite, spice, licorice and leather all build in a deep, powerful wine that is all about gravitas and power.

-- Antonio Galloni

Medium-dark ruby; attractive, deep, intense, dark cherry, cassis, and blackberry fruit aroma with hints of mocha, licorice, black olive, and dried herbs; full body; forward, deep, ripe, concentrated, red and black fruit flavors with bright acidity, well integrated oak, a hint of dark chocolate, and lots of richness in the plush mouthfeel; full tannin; lingering aftertaste. Very appealing and impressive to taste now, though deserving a good three to five more years of aging. Very highly recommended. 14.4% alcohol; 1,484 cases; blended with 4% PV; released March 2019. (Group Score: 16.7, 1/2/0; My Score: 17 [92/100], sixth place)

Always well-received in our tastings, this bottling succeeds grandly in the very good 2016 vintage for its well-knit blend of power and balance. Yes, it is ripe, but it is not overripe, and instead offers up a textbook model of deep and wholly convincing, yet still-developing, fruit set against a tight, noticeably tannic construction. Time is a willing ally here, and we would expect the wine to become more polished and open over the next decade and more.