Wine Enthusiast 96
Cellar Selection
With a slight nose of reduction, this wine offers grippy tannin and sizable oak. Blueberry, currant, cedar and sage give it an elegance and classic structure of understated power, finishing in notes of tobacco and clove. Enjoy from 20292039.

James Suckling 95
Aromas of dark plums, black olives, bark, dried herbs and cloves. Medium-to full-bodied with powdery tannins. Rich and creamy with chocolate and black fruit on the palate. Chewy finish with excellent length. Fresh. Drink from 2023.

Wilfred Wong 94
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon is a class act showcasing the Napa Valley at its best. TASTING NOTES: This wine expresses aromas and flavors of black fruit, fragrant spices, licorice, and a suggestion of oak. Pair it with a crown roast of lamb. (Tasted: December 4, 2021, San Francisco, CA)

Jeb Dunnuck 94
Deep ruby-hued, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon has a textbook Cabernet nose of ripe red and black fruits, leafy herbs, tobacco, spicy oak, and loamy earth. Nicely textured on the palate, it shows the supple elegance of the 2019 vintage, has ripe tannins, medium to full body, and outstanding length. It's a beautifully balanced, classic 2019 to drink any time over the coming 15 to 20 years. The blend is 94% Cabernet, 4% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, aged 17 months in 65% new French oak.

"An elegant perfume of mixed berries, baking spice, dried lavender and thyme open onto a full palate layered with expansive mixed berry, black tea, toasted oak and spice flavors. Focused and fresh, fine grained tannins support the wine throughout, while the finish is silky, long and lifted."

About Far Niente

Far Niente was founded 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.

Far Niente prospered until the onset of Prohibition in 1919, when it was abandoned and left to fall into disrepair. Sixty years later, 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. We felt an obligation to preserve the name with the hope that we could recapture a bygone era when life was indeed without a care.

Nineteen eighty-two marked the return of winemaking to Far Niente, with the harvest of the winery's first Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay was also produced at the winery for the first time that year; the 1979, '80 and '81 vintage wines were made at an offsite location. Today, the winery continues to focus on producing only the two varietal wines.

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2019 — 1.5L (bottle)(currently viewing)
2019 — 750mL (wine)(available to order)
2018 — 750mL (wine)(available to order)
2017 — 750mL (wine)(currently unavialable)

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