Far Niente Winery was established in 1885 by John Benson, a forty-niner of the California gold rush and uncle of the famous American impressionist painter, Winslow Homer. Benson hired architect Hamden McIntyre, creator of the former Christian Brothers winery—now the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone—to design the building. Constructed against a hillside in western Oakville, Far Niente functioned as a gravity flow winery, gently moving the grapes through each stage of production.
In 1979, Gil Nickel purchased the winery and adjacent vineyard and began a three-year restoration of the property, which resulted in placement on the National Register of Historical Places. During restoration, the original name, Far Niente, from an Italian phrase that romantically translated means “without a care,” was found carved in stone on the front of the building where it remains to this day. Today, the winery continues to focus on producing only the two varietal wines.
This wine is their 2018 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a blend of 93.3% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3.8% Petit Verdot, 2.3% Cabernet Franc, .5% and .1% Malbec aged 17 months in French oak (65% new, 35% once-used). This wine combines grapes from select vineyards in Rutherford, Calistoga and St. Helena that complement the fruit from their Oakville estate vineyards.
Wine Enthusiast Magazine awarded this a "Cellar Selection" and scored it 95 points saying "This memorable Cabernet Sauvignon has small amounts of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec blended in. Aged 17 months in a majority of new French oak, it unfurls flavors of red fruit, dried herb and clove over a core of youthful tannin and spicy oak. Best from 2028–2038."
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