Deep ruby color; sweet black cherry, blackcurrant, blackberry, plum, black olive, raspberry, spearmint, toast, oak, vanilla, tobacco on the nose and palate.
Dry; velvety tannins with appropriate acidity; lush and smooth in the mouth. Full body. Ripe fruit-forward. Polished. Delivers plenty of upfront drinking pleasure without challenging you with tannins and massive complexity. Grape clusters are hand-picked, sorted in the vineyard, then sorted in the cellar with an optical sorter. Finished in barrel lots, aged in French oak, then individual barrels are blended to create the final product. Blend of 93% cabernet sauvignon, 4% cabernet franc, 3% petit verdot. 14.8% ABV
Koerner Rombauer enjoyed a nearly 30-year career as a pilot with the California Air National Guard and as a commercial pilot. Although Koerner and Joan Ransome attended the same high school in Escondido, California, they did not date until they meet after college. In 1959, they married. Seeking a small-town, agricultural life, the Rombauers moved to Napa Valley in 1972. They first rented property on Highway 29, then purchased a home atop a knoll on 40 acres in St. Helena in 1974. They got into the wine business as partners in the Conn Creek Winery in 1976, then sold their Conn Creek interest to start their own winery in 1980.
Wanting more experience, Joan joined the sales team at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in 1981. She became national sales director. The inaugural wines for Rombauer Vineyards were bottled at Stag’s Leap in 1982. Later, the Rombauers built a winery larger than their needs to serve as their winery and a custom-crush facility for up-and-coming wineries: Dominus, Duckhorn, Merryvale, Etude, Spottswoode, and other elite makers today.
Rombauer wines won accolades from the beginning. Their first emphasis was cabernet sauvignon, but in 1995 their Carneros chardonnay ranked as No. 32 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines list. They now are known as much for their chardonnays as their cabs, although this cabernet sauvignon effort definitely demonstrates they still do cabs well.
Joan was lost to pancreatic cancer in 2002. The family established endowments to support the University of California–San Francisco’s pancreatic research efforts and the Napa Valley Hospice & Adult Day Services. Richie Allen joined the Rombauer team in 2008, rose through the ranks, and is head winemaker today. In 2015, Rombauer Vineyards celebrated its 35th anniversary as a family-owned winery, operated by Koerner and his children, K.R. and Sheana. In 2016, Reagan Rombauer Blackwood became the third generation to join the team. In 2018, Koerner passed at age 83. Richie Allen is the vice president of viticulture and winemaking.
In 2023, four years after this vintage, the Rombauer family sold their operations to E.&J. Gallo’s Luxury Wine Group. In a press release from K.R. Rombauer, owner and son of Koerner and Joan, noted: “On behalf of the Rombauer family, we are thrilled that we were able to find a dedicated, multi-generational family who share in our vision and passion of providing exceptional wines with a long-term focus on quality and reinforcing community. Gallo places great importance in stewardship of the land, the Rombauer brand, and their employees.”
Rombauer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2019 is a delicious, ripe-fruit, restrained tannin Napa cab. It can be enjoyed sipped solo with its lush smoothness and richness. Impressive weight and texture provides abundant drinking pleasure, especially for those who have an aversion to massive, high-alcohol, tannic reds. This gives you the rich, hearty, ripe fruits without some of the irritating accoutrements of more boisterously assertive Napa cabs. Pair with hearty beef dishes, but also works with less assertive red meat thanks to the captivating tannins; lamb; works with poultry baked or broiled; duck; wild game—venison, boar, rabbit. Cheese—mature, hard cheese; pecorino-style sheep’s and goat’s milk cheese; aged cheddar, aged gouda, gorgonzola, comté, brie, gruyere, roquefort. $65-75
Rombauer website, explore the several charming videos
