You never mind retelling a good story, especially one that has a happy ending.\u00a0 8Such is the saga of Gibbs Cabernet.\u00a0 There’s always a need for a well-made version of Americas’s favorite varietal (Cabernet Sauvignon) that doesn’t cost “an arm and a leg,” the search for really good Cabs at fair prices is ongoing.\u00a0 Since Cabernet is still kind of a big deal here in California, we were pretty sure we found the value Cabernet \u2018holy grail\u2019 back in 2014 when we rolled out the 2010 Gibbs Obsidian Block Cabernet Sauvignon.\u00a0 Estate grown on a vineyard near Saint Helena, a quality, pure, varietally honest effort, that had definite Napa terroir and style points to boot, seemed too good to be true.<\/p>\n
We rode that horse for several vintages simply because we could.\u00a0 I mean, why not?\u00a0 It was pretty much everything you could ask for in a Napa Cab at this price.\u00a0\u00a0 The story itself deserves a quick refresher.\u00a0 The Handlys, Susan (formerly Carpenter) and Craig, met at a label design company in Napa called Colonna-Farrell.\u00a0 \u00a0After moving to Saint Helena in 1977, owner and winemaker Craig Handly began working as a label designer with, a notorious design studio with a history that is closely tied to the success of Napa Valley\u2019s wine industry..<\/p>\n
Before finding himself involved in the production of wine, Craig began a design and photography firm, Handly\/Hansen, which produced materials for wineries including Beringer, Kendall-Jackson, Robert Craig, Karl-Lawrence, and Elyse. Later, Susan and Craig began their own stationary company, which started to lose ground at the turn of the century thanks to the wide acceptance of e-mail communication. It was then Craig made his foray into wine production by starting yet another company, Terroir Napa Valley.<\/p>\n
With a focus on the staple crop of Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon, Terroir Napa Valley focused largely on producing single-vineyard wines that exhibit the qualities of the vineyard site. As fate had\u00a0 it, Dr. Lewis Carpenter (Susan’s father), who farmed his vineyards in St. Helena for more than a half century, passed away. Craig Handly, his son-in-law, is now farming those choice St. Helena vineyards.\u00a0 \u00a0Those well situated vines, acquired long before the real estate craziness that is Napa today, are the source for the Gibbs Cabernet.<\/p>\n
For whatever reason, the 2015 Gibbs didn\u2019t make the cut after 4 out of five vintages previously.\u00a0 But the 2016 is brighter and deeper and stands out in its field the way that the 2010 did back when we discovered the winery in the first place.\u00a0 The Gibbs<\/strong> Cabernet<\/strong> Sauvignon<\/strong> Three<\/strong> Clones<\/strong> Napa<\/strong> Valley<\/strong> 2016<\/strong><\/a> is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot and 7% Petite Verdot that spends 8 months in French Oak.\u00a0 It is 100% estate bottled, something virtually no Napa Cabs in this price range can say.\u00a0 The \u2018Three Clones\u2019 moniker is a reference to the three different clones of Cabernet (6, 15, and 337) that are the heart of this engaging estate blend..<\/p>\n In the glass, the nose jumps forth loaded with spicy red and black fruits.\u00a0 On the palate, all of the promise of the nose is delivered with the fruit character persistent from the cool black fruit core to the more jubilant, redder fruit center to the wine at large, with plenty volume to the flavors delivered.\u00a0\u00a0 If someone told you this cost $50, you\u2019d taste the wine and look at the (single vineyard) Napa Appellation, and have no reason to question anything.\u00a0 The kicker here is it is less than half that ($25)! Same as it ever was, this is one of the pre-eminent deals\u00a0 on Napa Valley Cabernet.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>If you’re looking for the \u2018hook\u2019, there aren’t any scores or reviews on this one.\u00a0 It seems this remarkable little wine is still under the radar, which is better for those of us that still just enjoy drinking a good Cabernet and don\u2019t care about the media, particularly if the price is right.\u00a0 We understand that it might be difficult to comprehend a well made, unpresuming, delicious Cabernet, from prime Napa Valley dirt, for under $25.\u00a0 But it is certainly the kind of \u2018adjustment\u2019 one should be able make.\u00a0 With only 1600 cases produced, the impact on the market at large will be pretty minimal.\u00a0 But the possibilities for those \u2018in the know\u2019 is a whole different matter.\u00a0 Good hunting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You never mind retelling a good story, especially one that has a happy ending.\u00a0 8Such is the saga of Gibbs Cabernet.\u00a0 There’s always a need for a well-made version of Americas’s favorite varietal (Cabernet Sauvignon) that doesn’t cost “an arm and a leg,” the search for really good Cabs at fair prices is ongoing.\u00a0 Since … Continue reading “THE RETURN OF GIBBS: SINGLE VINEYARD, ESTATE NAPA CAB UNDER $25”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[94,70,502,504,503],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3136,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135\/revisions\/3136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}