Kongsgaard is a small family winery on Atlas Peak, better known for Chardonnay but also making a little mountain Cabernet. The 2016, from a fine, even Napa vintage, is dense, dark and structured, and has now had time to settle.
About This Wine
The Cabernet comes from the vines around the winery on Atlas Peak and a neighbouring mountain vineyard, farmed for low yields and made with minimal intervention. Earlier releases have been blended with a portion of Merlot, and the mountain fruit gives firm tannins that the family manages carefully. 2016 was a warm, steady season in Napa with an early, calm harvest, and it is widely rated as a strong year for structured Cabernet.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Cassis, plum, chocolate-coated cherry, tobacco and pencil shavings.
- Palate: Medium to full-bodied, with concentrated dark fruit, fine but firm mountain tannins and earthy depth.
- Finish: Black fruit and spice linger, with a savoury, mineral close.
Serving & Food
One to two hours in a decanter lets the mountain tannins relax; then pour at 17 to 18°C into Bordeaux glasses. It is drinking well now and should hold through the mid-2030s. Try it with grilled ribeye, lamb chops with garlic and mint, or a beef and mushroom pie.
How to Enjoy
Steak dinners and fans of the Kongsgaard name looking beyond the Chardonnays.
Product Details
Producer: Kongsgaard
Country: USA
Region: Napa Valley, California, USA
Vineyard: Atlas Peak, Napa Valley
Vintage: 2016
Grape Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Category: Red wine
Format: 750mL bottle
About the Winery
John Kongsgaard, a fifth-generation Napa native, and his wife Maggy planted The Judge vineyard on family land near Napa in the 1970s. John worked at Stony Hill, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and then Newton, where he was among the first in California to make unfiltered Chardonnay, before launching Kongsgaard with the 1996 vintage.
In 2004 they bought a 150-acre property high on Atlas Peak on the eastern rim of the valley, where they built a winery in a cave cut into volcanic rock at around 2,300 feet. Only a small part is planted, including Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery is best known for Chardonnay, including The Judge, and output is limited to what the family, now with son Alex, can make by hand, at around 3,000 cases a year.