2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Beauregard Ranch
Out of Stock
Wine Specs
Vintage
2016
Appellation
Ben Lomond Mountain
Harvest Date
September 26
Sugar
25 Brix at Harvest
Aging
20% new French Oak
Fermentation
Native Yeast
Bottling Date
August 2018
Alcohol %
12.5
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
The Beauregard Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon has a highly concentrated dark garnet red center. The aromas are ripe yet have an old world flare akin to a modern classified red wine from Bordeaux. The nose displays notes of ripe black currants, black plum, cassis, leather, red tobacco, cedar, wet rocks, toasted oak and delicate oak spices. The palate is full bodied and multi-layered with a beautiful harmony between ripe fruit, oak, and earth flavors which reflect the nose. This wine is still in its youth and based on my experience drinking older Beauregard Cabernets, please try to wait as long as you can to enjoy this wine. I highly advise waiting until the wine has 7-8 years of bottle age to really discover the true beauty these wines have the ability to show. The fruit will eventually integrate, the savory notes will emerge, and the wine will slowly change and show a personality similar to top Bordeaux with a touch more flesh and texture on the palate. Only time will allow this, so be patient. I anticipate the greatest years this wine will see will be 2020-2030 or beyond if kept perfectly. To enjoy, ideally decant for 1 hour and serve in large Bordeaux stems at about 60-65F. Again, temperature is key to the wine showing balance.
Vineyard Notes
The Beauregard Ranch vineyard site was part of an original 160 acre vineyard and apple orchard planted in the early 1900’s. The vineyard was abandoned during prohibition and then resurrected in 1949 when retired Sherrif’s deputy Amos Beauregard purchased the property. It sits at an elevation of 1700 to 1850 feet on a southwest facing slope. Monterey Bay marine influences combine with sandy loam soil to produce wines with minerality and striking acidity. Plantings: Four acres Pinot Noir, clones: Pommard, 667 & 115. One acre Chardonnay, clone 4. Three acres Zinfandel, clone Primitivo. Four acres Cabernet Sauvignon, Dijon clone.
Winemaker Notes
The harvest was light cropped in the lower elevation vineyards like Bald Mountain Vineyard and
Coast Grade Vineyard. Bald Mountain was around 70% off of what it should have been for a
second year in a row, and Coast Grade was around 1⁄2 of a normal crop also for a second year
in a row. Beauregard Ranch was normal and perfect. Zayante was down around 25%. We had
a second year of very wet fog in the springtime for an extended period of time which caused the
vines to lose many of their flowers. In the wine industry, we call this ‘shatter.’ Shatter gets its
name because the cluster looks like shattered glass with many of the berries missing from the
cluster. Most of the time when we deal with crops that have been ‘damaged’ by the weather, we
expect the quality to be less than ideal. But this year, somehow the quality was exceptional.
The pick was roughly 3 weeks earlier than a typical year, as we expected. Aside from the
challenges listed, we did have a pretty good time making wine. There were the expected
stressful situations, but we got through them as a team which is what it is all about.
Production
404 cases