FARM Napa Valley by John Anthony Cabernet Sauvignon shows how great wines grow in the farmer’s shadow. We let our vines speak for themselves when deciding on the perfect ripeness for picking, meaning each unique vintage drives the decision to harvest. When the skins are soft, the seeds ripe, and the flavors are concentrated, we schedule the pick - always at night when the grapes are coolest, and always with the most selective hands. The 2015 vintage has aromas of black fruit and mixed berries with grilling spices and a graphite core. Plum skin and brambleberry flavors dominate with the support of licorice and peppercorn. This is a sturdy wine with bracing tannins and broad mid-palate presence.
The FARM 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon from John Anthony is produced, as he says, “a hundred percent from small hand-farmed vineyards in the Napa Valley.” This is an elegant, Bordeaux style of Cabernet Sauvignon, with notes of black and red currants, some kirsch, spice box, and cedar in a relatively evolved, finesse style. It is medium-bodied, has soft tannins, and clearly aims for graciousness and delicacy. Drink it over the next 10-12 years. - Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The grapes are harvested subjectively for flavor and maturity and are not picked “by the numbers”. When the skins are soft, the seeds ripe, and the flavors are concentrated, we schedule the pick. After a relatively short, intense fermentation, the wine is pressed to barrel with some of the original grape sugar still in the juice, so the wine can finish fermentation in a combination of French and American oak.
92 Point rating from Wine Advocate’s Robert Parker, December 2015:"By Napa standards, this is a heck of a value and a wine certainly capable of being drunk now or cellared for 15 or more years. A sleeper of the vintage for sure."
Our grapes are picked at night to maximize acidity and taken to the winery no later than 7:00 AM to be pressed off the skins, stems, and seeds. After a day of settling and racking clean, wine is cold-fermented over a 45-day period to maximize flavor retention. The 2015 vintage has ripe pear and banana cream pie on the nose. Autumn orchard fruit and citrus blossom lead on the palate with layers of white chocolate macadamia and baking spice. A full mouthfeel with even breadth, the wine has an energy unique for its weight.
