2016 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon

VIN100 The 2016 Screaming Eagle is a positively stunning wine. An intense bouquet gives way to a wine of explosive energy and huge textural depth. Graphite, crushed rocks, menthol, sage and dark spice open up gradually in this reticent, brooding Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2016 is a towering, statuesque wine of the very highest level. That is the good news. The slightly less good news is that it will need a number of years in bottle to be at its very best. I wouldn’t dream of touching a bottle anytime soon. The 2016 literally does scream, with tons of varietal Cabernet aromatics, flavors and structural drive. In a word: magnificent!
WA98-100 A barrel sample, the 2016 Screaming Eagle is deep garnet-purple colored with bags of poise coming from a rather flamboyant vintage, showing beautiful perfume with notes of lilacs, rose hip tea, unsmoked cigars and spice cake with a core of warm redcurrants and Black Forest cake plus a touch of iron ore. The palate is medium to full-bodied, very tightly wound and with wonderful energy, structured with firm, very fine-grained tannins and fantastic freshness, finishing very long and earthy.
These 2016s from Screaming Eagle were due to be bottled the day after I visited, so winemaker Nick Gislason and I tasted them the day before bottling to avoid that first couple of months of “bottle shock” and get a clearer indication of the quality level/styles. Although I’ve kept to the tradition of producing a score range for the wines because they were not not in bottle, given that these were finished wines but for a day, readers can assume that the final bottled score is likely to be at the upper most end of the ranges I’ve given.