2016 Crown Point Estate Selection
Producer: Crown Point
Region: Happy Canyon, Santa Barbara, CA
Country: USA
Grapes: 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot, 1% Cab Franc
Vintage: 2016
ABV: 15.5
Vivino: 4.6
Drink By: 2030
Occasional Wine Note: We arranged for a tour and tasting of this magnificent vineyard a couple of years back and were blown away by this fantastic Cabernet blend. You may not find this one in many wine shops, particularly outside of California, but you will, as we did, find it on every top end restaurant’s wine list in Santa Barbara and a few further north. We put this one squarely on par with the great wines of Napa Valley. What a great representation of the quality of wine you can find in Santa Barbara!
Wine Enthusiast
Critic Score: 97
There’s an impressive amount of complexity on the nose of this bottling by winemaker Adam Henkel, from crushed graphite and concentrated black strawberry to cinnamon pastry, licorice and a brush of herbs. The sip is intense, with leathery but chiseled tannins presenting flavors of charred black currant, licorice, black olive, dried flower and white pepper.
Jeb Dunnuck
Critic Score: 97
Deeply colored, the 2016 Estate Selection checks in as 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec that was brought up 26 months in 75% new French oak. Deeply colored, it has a smoking good bouquet of crème de cassis, smoke, tobacco, lead pencil, camphor, and hints of chocolate.
This gives way to a powerful, opulent Cabernet Sauvignon that has plenty of sweet tannins, a layered, multi-dimensional texture, no hard edges, and an awesome finish. I’d happily put this beauty in a lineup of top Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and blends.
