Coombsville 2020: The top Cabernets from this Napa AVA
Coombsville is one of the coolest appellations in Napa. Reliably making some of the Valley's top wines of elegance and freshness in their Cabernets.
QUICK LINK: Napa Cabernet 2020: full vintage report and top-scoring wines
As Coombsville, east of the town of Napa, is among the coolest of the Valley’s 16 sub-AVAs, the region benefited from the intense heat of 2020 that plagued sites up-valley.
Andy Erickson of Favia Erickson Winegrowers reminds us that in 2017, the fires ‘surrounded us and were later, and the last of the grapes that hadn’t come in we didn’t harvest. But in 2020, we decided to learn something and made all our wines.’ He said that while not all were bottled, ‘it’s probably the most scrutinised vintage I’ve ever been part of’. Month after month, Erickson examined the wines barrel by barrel and got rid of anything that seemed off.
Scroll down for the top-scoring Coombsville 2020 Cabernet wines
Most surprisingly, he noted that a comparison of lab results from wines harvested in 2018 and 2019 that had been in barrel for one and two years had levels of the smoky compounds (from the fire-bent and toasted oak barrels they aged in). These wines showed higher levels of smoky compounds than some of their 2020s. Talk about perplexing science. To cap it all off, Erickson did a vertical tasting of his wines after bottling and felt that 2020 fits right in with the ‘19, ‘18, ‘17, and ‘16. ‘That’s what you want.’
The tannins from Coombsville in 2020 are pronounced, and the best examples are already beginning to soften and round out, so giving a good decant isn’t a bad idea.
Coombsville 2020: the top Cabernets
Cristaldi’s Coombsville value pick
88 points The Vice, Batch #72 ‘Carbone’, Coombsville, Napa Valley 2020
Coombsville 2020 Cabernet: the top-scoring bottles
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Favia, Napa Valley, Coombsville, California, USA, 2020
From winemaker, Andy Erickson comes this heady, perfumed Cabernet with excellent weight and plenty of tannins. Fruit-driven due to a slight backing of new oak...
2020
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Paul Hobbs, Nathan Coombs Estate, Napa Valley, Coombsville, California, USA, 2020
From the Nathan Coombs Estate in Coombsville, Paul Hobbs has fashioned one of the most refined, expressive Cabernets of the vintage. Aged 20 months in...
2020
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Paul Hobbs, Napa Valley, Coombsville, California, USA, 2020
From Paul Hobbs, this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is aged 20 months in 71% new French oak. The nose is pure, fresh, and inviting, with dark...
2020
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Erikson & Caradin, Quadrilateral, Napa Valley, Coombsville, Napa County, California, USA, 2020
Alluring mixed berry fruit aromas are intermixed with tobacco, cedarwood and dried herbs. Medium to full-bodied with satiny fine-grained tannins and sporting a generous black...
2020
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Meteor Vineyard, Perseid, Napa Valley, Coombsville, California, USA, 2020
From Meteor Vineyard, a knoll in Coombsville, this Perseid bottling is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and leads with aromas of brambly red and black fruits, cinnamon,...
2020
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The Vice, Batch #72' Carbone', Napa Valley, Coombsville, California, USA, 2020
Red berry fruits and cedar spices with dried herbs and vanilla. Medium-bodied on the palate with tangy blood orange acidity, cranberry and raspberry fruit notes...
2020
The ViceNapa Valley
