100 Points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple, the 2016 Promontory comes barreling out of the glass with bold scents of black cherries, blueberry pie and licorice, leading to a slowly emerging core of crème de cassis, dark chocolate, black soil and truffles plus touches of cumin seed, mossy bark and beef drippings. The full-bodied palate is densely packed with muscular fruit, backed by a rock-solid structure of very firm, exquisitely ripe, grainy tannins and fantastic tension. The finish is both powerful and beautifully nuanced, hedonic and cerebrally gratifying. This singularly stunning expression of Napa Valley is to be released by the winery in 2021.
100 Points Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Estate is pure perfection and a legend in the making. Featuring incredible purity of fruit as well as powerful notes of crème de cassis, gravelly earth, cedar pencil, and chocolate, it has the fresher, pure, classic style of this great vintage front and center. With full-bodied richness and depth, it has an almost Château Latour-like stature and majestic quality, and it should have a similar evolution, requiring 7-8 years to hit its early drink window yet evolve for 20-30 years or more.
100 Points James Suckling
I tasted this for the first time last year and it has only got greater. The nose is breathtaking. Purity with incredible complexity, showing dried mushrooms, blackberries, currants and cedar. Some wet earth. Dense and layered blackberries and blueberries. Full-bodied and long with beautiful depth and intensity. The tannins are ultra long. Black truffle comes through. Love the length, finesse and focus. Release in 2022.
100 Points The Wine Independent
Deep purple-black colored, the nose of the 2016 Promontory starts a little sluggish and broody before positively erupting with powerful scents of plum preserves and crème de cassis, followed by exotic hints of cardamom, Indian spices, and sandalwood, plus wafts of fertile loam and crushed rocks. The palate is full-bodied, rich, and velvety, intertwining opulence and minerality with wonderful vibrancy and gravitas, finishing with an epically long-lasting array of earthy sparks. Now starting to shut down as it heads into a slumber, give it a good 4-5 more years in the cellar before broaching, then drink it over the next 30+ years.
99 Points Vinous
The 2016 Promontory is every bit as magnificent as it has always been. A wine of dimension and breadth, the 2016 is so captivating in the way it engages all the senses. Unlike many Napa Valley Cabernets, Promontory, especially in structured years like 2016, really benefits from aeration. That time brings out striking floral and mineral nuance while releasing the fruit as the tannins gently melt. Hints of sage, lavender, graphite and mint lend brilliance to this beautifully sculpted, taut Cabernet Sauvignon. What a wine.
Winemaker Notes
Aromas are diverse and complex, with no single primary scent standing above the rest. Some of the more subtle facets are beginning to surface: wet stone, graphite, leather, and fresh spices. Brighter notes create a tension in the nose that then transfers to the palate. In the beginning it is gentle and silky, developing slowly and purposefully into a synthesis of minerality, freshness, and vibrancy. The wine shows its potential for aging with a balance of structure and lightness, as well as a latent potential only to be revealed with time.
