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2016 TOR Kenward Family Wines Oakville Hillside Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

5 available
Minimum Bid Per Bottle is $145
Ends Sunday, 7pm Pacific

ITEM 9553567 - Removed from a professional wine storage facility; Purchased at retail

Bidder Quantity Amount Total
5 $145
2016 TOR Kenward Family Wines Oakville Hillside Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

RATINGS

97James Suckling

Crushed dark fruit with licorice and black olives on the nose. Full-bodied and very lush yet reserved and melted in the palate. Fine tannins. Spreads out across the palate in a subtle way.

96The Wine Advocate

...red, black and blue fruits with floral and earthy nuances plus pencil shavings and a meaty/savory undercurrent. The palate is full-bodied, firm, grainy and lively with loads of earth and mineral layers.

96Vinous / IWC

Inky, plush and voluptuous, with terrific energy backing up the fruit, the 2016 is positively stellar.

94Jeb Dunnuck

This beauty has a more perfumed, classic style that carries ample crème de cassis, graphite, violets, leafy herbs, tobacco, and some savory, herbal, forest floor notes. Medium to full-bodied, silky, pure, and elegant...

92Wine Spectator

Savory, mint, roasted vanilla and mulled cassis notes roll through in this broad and ripe offering, with a loamy tug through the dark-fruited finish. A textbook Oakville Cabernet with a rock-solid combo of fruit and earth.

17Jancis Robinson

Very interesting mineral, almost stony, notes on the nose. Then on the palate there is something highly floral and aromatic – lavender? – and a bit of mint. Plus the sweetness of ripe Napa Valley fruit but not ridiculously overdone. Lots of pleasure here and with some refreshment and still some fine tannin in evidence.

PRODUCER

TOR Kenward Family Wines

TOR Kenward Family Wines was founded by Tor Kenward, a senior Beringer Vineyards executive who retired in 2001 from Beringer and started his winery dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux blends and Chardonnay. Tor Kenward, the man, is rooted in California and the best of its winemaking. His unusual first name was given to him by his artistic parents, who admired the distinguished California poet Robinson Jeffers, who named his Carmel home Torhouse, meaning “home on a lofty pinnacle.” Kenward himself was mentored by some of the leading lights of 20th century California winemaking, including Robert Mondavi, André Tchelistcheff, and Warren Winiarski. Jeff Ames is today the estate’s winemaker. Ames learned winemaking from Napa winemaking guru Thomas Brown and from stints at Schrader, Maybach and Outpost. Tor Kenward wines win high praise from reviewers. Robert M. Parker Jr. has complimented the estate for its “dazzling…fabulous wines…Tor Kenward is using his vast experience in the wine industry and impressive palate to find exceptional terroirs and produce fascinating wines that merit serious attention.”

REGION

United States, California, Napa Valley

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

TYPE

Red Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.