Cabernet Sauvignon, Farella Vineyard, Napa Valley, 2016

With a new winery to play with, no other (vinous) commitments, and a growing season like 2016, Massimo has crafted his greatest Farella yet. Massimo’s original vineyard, from the increasingly popular Coombsvile AVA, is capable of producing brilliant Cabernet Sauvignon from the rolling volcanic benchlands that are regularly cooled by the San Pablo bay. This 2016 is taut and nuanced, but also full of intrigue, with a sense of completeness and total integration that is remarkable in such a young wine. Powerful, soaring and intense, Farella 2016 is underpinned by rigid beams of ripe, succulent tannin, a structure that carries the fruit across the palate and out into a very long finish. Aromatically richer than the Montecillo, deep cassis fruit is fused with complex notes of stone, sweet horse, fine spice, rosemary and plum in a perfume both handsome and fine. On the palate a sweeping, long cast of complex yet charming fruit is illuminated by lovely acidity and these sweet tannins that provide a rigid yet pliant structure. Composed, structured and fresh – this is Napa Cabernet of the highest calibre.