2016 Robert Keenan Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Before we say anything about the 2016 Keenan Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, know that it won’t last long. A member-favorite Cabernet crafted by 100-point master Nils Venge in the all-time great 2016 vintage, it’s bound to disappear into the cellars of members who clamor for Keenan offers—and have bestowed the winery with a 4.5-out-of-5-star rating over 25+ releases. 

Those who do get in on the 2016—the all-time great vintage and the 40th vintage of this renowned winery—will get the kind of Cabernet that inspired Robert Parker to praise Keenan’s “Midas touch.” 

Sourced from the jagged peaks of Spring Mountain in Northwest Napa Valley, Keenan is literally in a realm of its own. Founded over 40 years ago, their estate vineyards overlook Napa Valley from a rugged perch well above the fog line. That’s where Stanford-educated Robert Keenan—an insurance guy turned winemaker overnight—had settled, while his contemporaries were setting up shop down in the valley. 

Spring Mountain experiences some of the coldest and wettest weather in Napa Valley—a boon in the 2016 season, the fifth year of Napa’s long drought. During that year, the grapes struggling on those rocky, infertile hillsides experienced just enough stress, enjoying ample water reserves to sustain them through the warm and dry growing season. With no major heat spikes through summer, it was the kind of harvest where winemakers could pick when the timing was ideal. In other words, perfect. 

Keenan’s intense, black-fruited Napa Cabernet follows the same script each vintage: Cabernet Sauvignon grown at the Keenan Estate on Spring Mountain brings impeccable mountain fruit and tannin to the final blend, which includes eastern Pope Valley Cabernet for aromatic complexity, a balanced mid-palate, and blue-black fruit purity. The result is pure alchemy: the kind of elegant example of Napa Valley know-how that competes with Cabernets that go for twice the price. 

A mountain Cabernet, rested at the winery, it’s now blossoming with aromas of raspberry, wild strawberry, and steeped red roses, accented by a mineral-rich note of graphite and pencil shavings. Boasting an elegant mouthfeel that speaks of its high-altitude origins, it’s complex and integrating nicely, full of dark cherry, cocoa, and a savory ferrous quality that resolves in rich, elegant, mellow tannins.  

Straight from the winery, there’s never been a better time to stock up on one of the greatest vintages ever—at a throwback price.