2016 Favia Rompecabezas
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Tasting notes
More Bing cherry, pepper, decaying flowers, and ample meatiness emerge from the 2016 Rompecabezas, which is in the same realm as the 2015. Medium to full-bodied, rounded, and beautifully textured, it’s certainly proof positive that incredible wines can come from the terroir in Amador county and the Sierra Foothills. Drink it over the coming decade.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Dark red cherry, spice, cedar, tobacco and leather all flesh out in the 2016 Rompecabezas. Deep and resonant on the palate, with terrific fruit density, the 2016 has a lot to offer. This is a rather somber vintage for the Rompecabezas, and yet all the elements are very nicely woven together. I would give the 2016 at least a year or two in the cellar.
Rompecabezas means "jigsaw puzzle" in Spanish—this GSM blend is made up of 51% Grenache, 33% Mourvèdre and 16% Syrah. The Grenache is whole cluster and co-fermented with the Mourvèdre, with the final blend aged for 20 months in neutral French oak and 600-liter concrete eggs. Pale to medium garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Rompecabezas Red Wine features redcurrant jelly, kirsch and mulberries scents with hints of garrigue, menthol, tilled soil and rose hip tea scents plus a hint of dried lavender and salami. Medium to full-bodied, it has a firm frame of grainy tannins and bags of red fruit, savory and earthy layers, finishing long and perfumed. 233 cases produced.
About the producer
Favia is the personal project of cult winemaker Andy Erickson and leading viticulturalist and winemaker Annie Favia. Working in Coombsville and Oakville, they craft single-site, elegant expressions of top Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc that are some of the valley’s highest-rated.