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2016 J. Lohr Vineyard Series

Cabernet Sauvignon

Hilltop

Currently sold out

  • 95 Points

    Meridith May, The Tasting Panel

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2016 Hilltop Cabernet shows dark fruit, chocolate, graphite and anise on the nose. The palate is dense and soft at once with layers of mineral, sweet oak barrel and fresh savory notes. 

— Steve Peck, Vice President, Winemaking

Wine Details

Cellaring

10 years

Bright fruit upon release, with the structure to age comfortably for 7 to 10 years.

Facts Sheet
  • Origin

    Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo County, California

  • Food Pairings

    Delicious with rosemary-seasoned ribeye and garlic roasted potatoes with parsnips and fennel.

View Our Recipes

Composition Blend

  • 90%

    Cabernet Sauvignon

  • 6%

    Petit Verdot

  • 4%

    Cabernet Franc

Lines of wine vines planted across rolling hills at J Lohr's Shotwell Vineyard beneath a bright blue sky

Vineyard

Our Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon is grown on a handful of select vineyard sites in the Paso Robles AVA. Blessed with long summer days of intense sunshine, our near 100°F daytime temperatures are followed by chilly, ocean-cooled nights in the 50s. These Cabernet vines are naturally stressed in the dry, often very gravelly, and sometimes lime shale-laden soils. Water is at a premiumin these vineyards, enabling the viticulturist to fine-tune irrigation, resulting in the darkest fruit with resolved tannins year after year.

Vintage

Early seasonal rains were short of average, but the timing was ideal for vine health and wine quality in 2016. Every phenological marker, from budbreak in spring to bloom and veraison in the summer, occurred 1 to 2 weeks earlier than normal. Cabernet buds pushed around the middle of March, following heavy rains earlier in the month. The vine canopy growth propelled through the spring, bouyed by additional light rains in April and an ideal bloom period in early May. Tannin structure for 2016 was amplified by a warm veraison period beginning thethird week of July. Good ripening weather brought the Hilltop Cabernet harvest in early, with our highest elevation blocks harvested the second week of October showing the dark color and ripe fruit flavors this wine is known for.

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