2016 Cabernet Sauvignon

Bart and Daphne Araujo's Accendo wines keep getting better. The 2018 Sauvignon Blanc is the finest vintage of that wine yet. In Cabernet land, the Araujos continue to refine their approach to the sites they work with. Their 2017 Cabernet is fabulous; the 2016 is just as terrific as it was last year, and the 2018 (which I tasted from separate components) is looking like it, too, will be stellar. Going back to the 2017 for a second, a big part of what makes that wine special is that it was made at the Araujo's state of the art Wheeler Farms custom crush facility, designed by winemaker Nigel Kinsman. Equipped with generator power and the most modern equipment, Wheeler Farms operated through the October 2017 fires with no interruptions, which is quite remarkable.

I was deeply impressed with the wines I tasted this year at Accendo with proprietors Bart and Daphne Araujo. The Araujos are now sourcing fruit from some of the top sites in Napa Valley, including Vine Hill Ranch, Sleeping Lady and Oakville Ranch. Tasting the wines in separate components, as I was able to do with the 2017s, is a truly eye-opening experience. Readers should also be on the look out for wines from Accendo's sister label, Trois Noix, which is run by siblings Greg and Jaime Araujo, and is more or less the equivalent to the Altagracia range the Araujos previously made at Araujo Estate, in other words blends of the best fruit that does not go into the top bottlings.