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Sterling Vineyards
2016 Sterling Vineyards Iridium Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Tasting Notes
Tasting Note
Opulent, big, bold and a candidate to stand proudly alongside Napa’s finest cult wines, Iridium shows rich dark chocolate, caramel toffee and blackberries laced with oak spice, white pepper and black cherry. Firm, well-integrated tannins and a solid acid backbone give way to a richly decadent mouthfeel with lingering notes of mocha, cassis and classic Cabernet notes of graphite. Precious and rare, this is a wine that will continue to reveal itself over the next two decades.
Technical Information
| Varietal | Red Wine |
|---|---|
| Vintage | 2016 |
| Appellation | Napa Valley |
| Blend | 100% Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Oak Treatment | Aged for 18 months in 93% new French oak |
| Alcohol % | 14.9% |
| Enclosure Type | Cork |
| pH | 3.74 |
Scores & Accolades
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96
JamesSuckling.com
“A wonderfully focused and creamy texture to this red with blueberries, blackberries and cedar. Some chocolate. The tannin texture is superb, giving pure-silk pleasure. Such depth. Crazy packaging. Serious wine! Drink or hold as long as you like.” - James Suckling, February 2020
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95
Wine Advocate
"Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Iridium is deep garnet-purple in color. It charges out of the glass with super-intense notes of blackcurrant cordial, Black Forest cake and blueberry pie plus touches of chocolate mint, red roses, fragrant earth and cedar chest with a hint of pencil lead. Full-bodied, the palate is bursting with ripe, opulent black fruit preserves, framed by plush tannins, finishing very long with a spicy kick. 2,000 cases were made.” - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, August 13th, 2020
Winemaking
Winemaking
Fruit was hand-harvested and hand-sorted, selecting only the highest quality fruit for fermentation in a combination of concrete, French Oak and stainless vessels. The concrete tanks, relatively new to the winery, offered a significant purity of expression. Fruit was allowed to ferment for up to 15 days with regular pump-overs to extract deep color and rich flavors. The wine was then gently pressed, racked and aged for 18 months in 93% new French oak from COF toasted medium/medium plus from a mix of coopers including Gamba, Remond, Taransaud, Allary and Quintessence. Barrels were tasted frequently before the final selection of only the most compelling lots for Iridium.
Harry Hansen - Winemaker
Director of Winemaking Harry Hansen was raised in nearby Sonoma County. “One of my earliest memories of wine was the gallon jug of red wine that we always had at home. I would go with my father to a local winery, maybe in Kenwood or Healdsburg, to refill that jug and chit-chat with the winery proprietors. The aromas of those wines were always something attractive, somehow mysterious, but always memorable.”
Harry joined Sterling Vineyards and relocated to Napa Valley just before the 2011 Harvest. “The opportunity to join such a respected Napa Valley winery is exciting and a fantastic next step in my winemaking career. Sterling Vineyards is making some wonderful wines, and I look forward to taking that next step up in quality and reputation.”
Vintage
Vintage
Winter rains helped signal the end of the immediate drought, but vineyards had grown stressed after multiple challenging years, resulting in modest yields for the season. A dry January was followed by a wet February, and temperatures remained mild, encouraging an early bud break to begin the growing season. Showers arrived in April, slowing the rapid advance of flowering and set. Early by historical standards, after harvest began picks moved at a leisurely pace as winemakers waited for ever more complex flavors to develop. The extended season helped balance acids and allowed layers of flavors to emerge.
Vineyard
Napa Valley AVA
Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon is the signature variety of the Napa Valley and the appellation excels in producing outstanding expressions of this admired varietal. Napa Valley offers an ideal combination of topography, geology and climate that enables Cabernet Sauvignon to reach optimum ripeness, balance and finesse. And within the valley, there are exceptional vineyards and sub-appellations that produce some of the finest expressions of this noble grape. In Vintage 2016, winemaker Harry Hansen has selected notable lots from vineyards spanning Napa from South to North, including the Meigs Vineyard, Moore Ranch, Sleeping Lady Vineyard in Yountville and Calistoga’s Frediani Vineyard. The vineyards offer soils ranging from clay to tufa, with a variety of clones, exposures and ages, including older head trained vines.
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To create a better experience for you across all of our brands, we’ll check this info with accounts across the Treasury Wine Estates Portfolio of brands: Beringer, Beaulieu Vineyard, Etude, Hewitt Vineyard, Stags' Leap, Sterling, Penfolds, and TheWineShop.
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