Burgess Cabernet Sauvignon Contadina Napa Valley 2016 (750ml)

 

Rated 93 Points by Wine & Spirits Magazine

 

Meghan Zobeck makes this wine with cabernet from Burgess’s Sorenson Vineyard, a west-facing parcel on Howell Mountain, blending in a small amount of petit verdot and malbec from Haymaker, an east facing vineyard slightly higher in elevation.  Aged mostly in neutral French oak barrels (15 percent were new), this developed a textural grace without the weight of oak tannins, feeling airy in its richness.  There’s darkness to the fruit and a marrow-bone savor, ending light and breezy.  (2022)

 

Rated 92 Points by James Suckling

 

"This offers ripe blackberries and cassis, baking spices and some earthiness, too.  Full-bodied with juicy tannins, deep fruit and a long finish that shows a touch of mint.  Firm at the end.  Try in 2023. (12/5/21)

 

Rated 91 Points by Wine Spectator

 

This gives off sanguine and sandalwood hints as the core of gentle-edged black cherry and plum fruit flavors opens slowly.  As it does, flashes of tobacco and singed cedar notes blossom through the finish, ending with a tug of warm humus.  An old school wine that should reward further cellaring.  Drink now through 2032. 8,000 cases made.  (11/15/2021)

 

Rated 90 Points by Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate

 

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Contadina is a blend of purchased fruit from near Ink Grade and Oak Knoll.  It's 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, with bits of Petit Verdot and Malbec, aged in just 15% new French oak, with the rest in older wood.  There's a hint of bell pepper, a gentle herbaceousness that's entwined among the bright cherries, then it runs deeper into notes of cassis and chocolate.  This medium to full-bodied effort is ripe but not overdone, velvety but easy to drink; enjoy it now and over the next decade.  Drink: 2022-2030.  (May 2022)

 

Burgess Cabernet Sauvignon Contadina

 

Napa Valley 2016

 

Gracefully dotting our sloped hillside, every vine has a singular voice.  Named Contadina, meaning the woman farmer, these hillside vineyards find harmony through her farming.  We bring together in symphony the unique expressions of each parcel.

 

Composition:  90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot. 4% Malbec

 

Tasting Notes

 

A dense and concentrated cabernet with aromas and flavors of confectionary blackberry and stewed cassis.  The lush fruit is brought into balance by high tone herbal aromatics of mint, sage, and sweet tobacco.  The distinctively thick-skinned Cabernet grapes provide a long velvety finish.

 

Alcohol:  14.5%

 

Fermentation

 

All components fermented separately in stainless steel.

 

Aging Regimen

 

Aged 22 months in 15% new French oak barrique, 85% neutral French oak barrique

 

Vineyard Source

 

Sorenson Vineyard:  Cabernet Sauvignon Planted in the 1870’s by Swiss-Italian immigrants, our estate on Howell Mountain is south-west facing with a 27% slope.  The soils are comprised of densely compacted volcanic ash with large granitic stones.

 

Haymaker Vineyard:  Petit Verdot and Malbec Acquired by Burgess Cellar in 1987, Haymaker Vineyard sits on the opposite side of Howell Mountain facing east, with a slope averaging 20%.  Its soil composition mirrors the Sorenson, with bands of uplifted marine sediments.

 

 

Burgess Cellars

 

Burgess is the culmination of 150 years of farming tradition on the slopes of Howell Mountain.  From the Swiss-Italian ancestors who first planted our Estate Sorenson Vineyard to present day, we strive to create wines of elegance and finesse that honor our roots in the Napa Valley.

 

The story of Burgess includes Napa Valley history and 150 years of growth rooted in the stony soils of Howell Mountain, culminating in the elegant wines of a new century.

 

Tom Burgess established Burgess Cellars in 1972, but these Howell Mountain slopes were first planted in the 1870s by Italian-speaking immigrants from the Swiss canton of Ticino.  The Ponchetta & Rossini families, in the way of their Alpine homeland, cultivated vines on the rugged mountainside at extreme elevations.  With the same ambition and imagination, Lee Stewart planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah grapes on Howell Mountain’s steep hillsides, naming his winery Souverain, meaning “sovereign.”  Subsequent Napa Valley greats also saw the high promise of the land.  Before starting the historic Stag’s Leap and Grgich wineries, Warren Winiarski and Mike Grgich each learned his trade at the Estate known today as Burgess.

 

When Tom Burgess arrived in the Napa Valley, he began a quest for the perfect vineyard site where he could cultivate the fruit that yields the Cabernet Sauvignon wine he loved.  His passion became a life’s work.  Burgess acquired the Souverain estate from Lee Stewart and hired Bill Sorenson as chief winemaker who remained Burgess Cellars’ winemaker for 41 vintages, one of the longest tenures in the history of the Napa Valley.  When Tom and Bill retired, Tom’s son Steve Burgess assumed the mantle of Director with Winemaker Kelly Woods.

 

In 2020, Steve Burgess passed the baton to Gaylon Lawrence, Jr., upholding a 150-year tradition of family ownership.  Gaylon entrusted the legacy of the Howell Mountain vineyard to Winemaker Meghan Zobeck and Estate Director Garrett Hales.  Meghan and Garrett strive to honor the heritage of the Napa Valley through regenerative farming practices that will preserve the health of the vines and the “magic” of the wine from generation to generation.

 

 

Rated 91 Points by Wine Spectator

 

This gives off sanguine and sandalwood hints as the core of gentle-edged black cherry and plum fruit flavors opens slowly.  As it does, flashes of tobacco and singed cedar notes blossom through the finish, ending with a tug of warm humus.  An old school wine that should reward further cellaring.  Drink now through 2032. 8,000 cases made.  (11/15/2021)