2017 Promontory, Napa Valley

Blackcurrant, tar, lead pencil and dark fruit. Full-bodied with resin, dark-berry and redwood undertones and firm, fine tannins. Salty. Leaner than some, but so long and bright. Vertical elegance here. Needs three to four years to soften and open.

The 2017 Promontory is really starting to come together nicely. The Promontory wines have always benefitted from time in bottle, as the 2017 once again makes clear. In 2017, the red-toned fruit profile is a strong marker. Rose petal, lavender, blood orange and lively acids lend vibrancy throughout. The 2017 is a bit lower in alcohol than most vintages, owing to a freakish reversal in sugar ripeness brought on by very hot days at the end of the season. Winemaker David Cilli gave the 2017 32 months in cask, a bit longer than usual, to help all the elements come together, a choice that has paid off handsomely.

The 2017 Promontory is really starting to come together nicely. The Promontory wines have always benefitted from time in bottle, as the 2017 once again makes clear. In 2017, the red-toned fruit profile is a strong marker. Rose petal, lavender, blood orange and lively acids lend vibrancy throughout. The 2017 is a bit lower in alcohol than most vintages, owing to a freakish reversal in sugar ripeness brought on by very hot days at the end of the season. Winemaker David Cilli gave the 2017 32 months in cask, a bit longer than usual, to help all the elements come together, a choice that has paid off handsomely

The 2017 Estate showed beautifully, with full-bodied aromas and flavors of blackcurrants, mountain scrub brush, graphite, and bouquet garni. It shows a Graves-like gravelly earth character with time in the glass and is beautifully balanced, has considerable yet polished tannins, and a great finish. Give bottles 3-5 years in the cellar and enjoy over the following two decades. It’s a terrific 2017.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Promontory has a wonderfully fragrant nose of baked blackberries, plum preserves and black currant pastilles with an undercurrent of star anise, violets, espresso and tilled earth. Medium to full-bodied, it is soft-spoken and elegantly styled in the mouth, featuring skillfully managed, grainy tannins and bags of juicy black fruits, finishing long, earthy and remarkably energetic. This is certainly among the most profound of the 2017 Napa Cabernets and for followers of this vineyard, not one to be missed.