2021 Far Niente Napa Valley Cabernet

Far Niente Estate Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are consistently recognized as benchmark Napa Valley wines in every vintage. A dedication to winemaking in its highest form, paired with a focus on house style, vineyard ownership and social responsibility, has established Far Niente as one of the world’s great wine estates.

Far Niente was founded in 1885 by John Benson, an original forty-niner of the California gold rush and uncle of the artist Winslow Homer. Benson hired architect Hamden McIntyre, creator of the former Christian Brothers winery (now the Culinary Institute of America) and the Gustav Niebaum winery (today’s Inglenook winery), 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. Benson named the winery “Far Niente,” taken from the Italian phrase “Dolce Far Niente,” meaning, “sweet to do nothing.” Far Niente prospered until its abandonment in 1919 with the onset of Prohibition, and was left untouched for sixty years until 1979, when Gil and Beth Nickel purchased the property and began a three year renovation, restoring the winery to its original 19th century grandeur.
 
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. Although Far Niente produced Chardonnay in 1979, 1980 and 1981, the wines were made at a warehouse in Sausalito. Today, the winery continues to focus on producing only the two varietal wines, with a Napa Valley Chardonnay, a Napa Valley Cabernet and an Oakville Estate Cabernet.