Breathtaking. Exceptional integration of super ripe blackberries and the very finest oak. The tannins build up beautifully, forming wave upon wave as the wine flows across the palate. Then the wave breaks on your palate and shoots way out at the finish, so that you wonder where it will end and normal life begin again. Needs time to soften, but this is so, so good. Give it two or three years.
99 points, James Suckling (Mar 2020)
As with the 2015, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve shows the vintage beautifully and is more pure, classic, and elegant. Notes of crème de cassis, graphite, lead pencil shavings, and freshly crushed rocks give way to a medium to full-bodied, seamless Cabernet that has remarkable purity of fruit and impeccable balance. Made from 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot aged in 83% new French oak, it’s more reserved and backward than the 2015 and will benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and keep for two decades.
97+ points, Jeb Dunnuck (Jan 2019)