Inglenook Niebaum Estate 1882 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Description

Inglenook Niebaum Estate 1882 Cabernet Sauvignon is a red wine from the Ruthreford AVA of Napa Valley. The wine pays homage to the original founder of Inglenook Estate.

The origins of the Inglenook estate can be traced back to 1879 when it was founded by a Finnish sea captain named Gustave Niebaum. The estate was eventually purchased by John Daniel in 1940. However, the modern part of the estate’s history begins in 1975 when famous Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola purchased part of the historic Inglenook property and three years later made his first vintage of Rubicon, a proprietary blend of classic Bordeaux varietals. Twenty years later in 1995 he was able to restore the Estate to its original splendour with the purchase of the grand Chateau and remaining vineyards. After restoring the Chateau, including returning winemaking to its original location on the second floor, purchasing the adjacent J.J. Cohn property and building a massive cave in the hillside behind the Chateau, Coppola changed the property’s name to Rubicon Estate, echoing the name of its flagship wine. The Inglenook brand name, which was owned by another company, was finally acquired by Coppola and in 2011 he announced that the estate would be known by its historic name.

Inglenook Niebaum Estate 1882 Cabernet Sauvignon is named after Gustave Niebaum: 1882 was the very first vintage of wine that he produced at the estate. In the same year he also dug a cellar into the Mayacamas foothills on the back property in his quest for optimal barrel aging conditions. The bottle’s distinctive etching features an image of the stone exterior of the cave where Niebaum and his general manager, Hamden W. McIntyre conducted their experiments into barrel-ageing.

The 2016 vintage is a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot, 7% Syrah and 2% Cabernet Franc sourced from the estate’s Chateau, Cohn, Red barn, Lower Garden, Gate and La Lomita vineyards. The wine is aged for 18 months in 15% new French oak and the rest in neutral French and American oak.