2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Gravel Series The Vow

From top to bottom, this is a super-impressive set of wines from Round Pond. The 2016s are positively brilliant. Even better, most of these wines remain exceptionally well-priced by Napa Valley standards. Owners Ryan and Miles MacDonnell, along with winemaker JJ Dowell and consultant Thomas Rivers Brown, have succeeded in giving this range more stylistic cohesiveness than in the past, when some of the wines, most notable the Gravel Series Cabernets, were penalized by excessive oak. More importantly, though, the 2016s are flat-out gorgeous. That's pretty much all there is to it.

My tasting at Round Pond was one of the highlights of my fall trip through Napa Valley, not just because of the wines, but more importantly because of what appears to be an enormous amount of potential that continues to be realized by owners Ryan and Miles MacDonnell. Newly arrived winemaker JJ Dowell and consultant Thomas Brown make a formidable team. They also have access to Round Pond's elite sites on the home ranch in Rutherford along with M Bar Ranch in Oakville. All of these vineyards naturally yield wines of substance and power. Round Pond does best when those attributes are complemented by a measure of finesse and structure, rather than amplified in the pursuit of unctuousness and concentration, a choice that has at times erased many of the soil signatures in the wines. In this broad range the Reserve Cabernet delivers the greatest amount of value.