2016 Pahlmeyer Cabernet Sauvignon Raison d'Etre
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The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Raison d'Etre is selection of the best barrels off the estate (whereas the Piece de Resistance also comes from non-estate fruit) and is a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Merlot brought up in new barrel. An utterly perfect wine with the ability to evolve for 30-50 years, it’s saturated purple to the rim and offers up notes of scorched earth, charcoal embers, graphite, spring flowers, black cherries, and blueberries. Incredibly concentrated and structured yet at the same time elegant and multi-dimensional, it’s a wine of both power and poise. Built like a skyscraper, it needs a good 4-5 years of bottle age and will keep for half a century.
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Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Raison d'Etre is dense and unctuous in the glass. Red cherry, iron, incense, tobacco, cedar and smoke show all of the savoriness that is such a signature of Atlas Peak. Even with all of its obvious concentration and power, the 2016 has plenty of structure, but the tannins are nearly buried by the sheer intensity of the fruit. Time in bottle will allow the wine to be at its most expressive. Next to the Piece de Resistance, the Raison d'Etre has more of a red fruit and savory-leaning profile.
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Raison D'Etre is a barrel selection wine, made entirely from estate fruit and bottled in late May 2018. Composed of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Franc and 1% Merlot, it's deep garnet-purple in color and features a beguiling array of black berry, black cherry, warm blueberry and cassis notes with sparks of cigar box, wood smoke, charcuterie and Chinese five spice notes plus a touch of dried Mediterranean herbs. Full, rich, concentrated and seductive in the mouth, the juxtaposition between the firm, superbly ripe, velvety frame, fantastic freshness and the depth of fruit is just incredible! It finishes multilayered and so compelling you will be reaching for that glass as soon as you put it down. 100 cases made.
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Raison d'Etre, from Pahlmeyer's estate vineyard, is fabulous. Soft tannins and voluptuous dark fruit give the wine much of its racy personality. Dark red cherry, plum, tobacco, gravel and smoke flesh out in this striking, richly-textured Cabernet Sauvignon from Pahlmeyer. The integration of fruit, mountain tannin and 100% new oak is impressive for such a young wine. The 17% Cabernet Franc seems to bring out a distinctly red-toned flavor profile.