Meteor Vineyard

Clone Project Cabernet Sauvignon Clone 4

Coombsville

2016

Vintage

Varietal

Cabernet Sauvignon

Peak 2023-2040

Where it is, November 2026

At Peak: inside the peak window (2023-2040), within the full drinking arc.

Ten years past harvest, the tannins from this single-clone Cabernet should have settled enough for Coombsville's dusty, volcanic-soil character to show clearly. Cellared could not independently verify a critic score for this exact bottling. It reads as a wine built to open with confidence now, not one that needs more time in the cellar.

The ‘16 Clone Project Cabernet Sauvignon Clone 4.

Meteor Vineyard bottles this 2016 as a standalone selection of Clone 4 Cabernet Sauvignon, apart from its Coombsville clone lots planted in 1999 on volcanic soil.

Cellared Ageability Index (CAI) drinking timeline

Full drinking arcYou are here · at peak, 2026

Storage and bottle condition can shift the experience.

Full drinking arc 2021-2048Peak window 2023-2040

The peak window sits inside the broader full drinking arc.

Tasting note

Cellared could not find a critic tasting note written specifically for this single-clone Clone 4 bottling, so this reflects the general character Vinous ascribes to Meteor's Coombsville Cabernets rather than a review of this exact wine. Vinous describes the house style as carrying a 'savory, minerally intensity' the critic calls a Coombsville signature, alongside 'a wonderful sense of poise' despite real power. Expect dark berry fruit over volcanic-soil minerality rather than a purely fruit-driven profile, with the structure Cabernet Sauvignon from this vineyard's rocky, ash-rich ground typically carries. As a single-clone selection bottled apart from Meteor's blended releases, it should read as a more angular, less polished expression of that house style.

The 2016 vintage

Napa's 2016 vintage closed out a run of drought years stretching back to 2012, this time without the sharp heat spikes that stressed some earlier vintages. Wine Spectator scored the Napa Cabernet vintage 98 points, Classic, noting that rockier, drier spots ripened first while heavier soils allowed longer hang time, producing intense fruit shaped by each site's own terroir. On Meteor's volcanic-ash Coombsville ground, that drought-year concentration favors a single-clone bottling like this one: less vintage-driven noise, more of what Clone 4 itself does on this specific soil.

About Meteor Vineyard

Meteor Vineyard is the Coombsville property Barry and Tracy Schuler bought in 1998, planting it the following year to three distinct clone and rootstock combinations, according to the estate's own site, on stony, volcanic soil managed since planting by viticulturist Mike Wolf. Winemakers Bill and Dawnine Dyer, whose approach the estate describes as built on elegance and balance, make the wine; Vinous has praised the house style for a 'savory, minerally intensity' distinctive to Coombsville. This Clone 4 release bottles one clonal selection on its own, apart from Meteor's other estate wines.

Pairing suggestions

Cellared suggestions based on the wine and dish descriptions.

Grilled ribeye with a peppercorn crust

The wine's tannic structure and dark berry depth need real char and fat, standing up to a bold pepper crust rather than getting flattened by it.

Braised short rib with root vegetables

Slow-braised collagen matches the fine-grained tannin this Cabernet still carries this early in its window, without a leaner cut getting overwhelmed.

Wild mushroom risotto

The vineyard's volcanic-soil minerality echoes an earthy mushroom dish, letting the wine's structure lead without a heavier protein competing for attention.

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Frequently Asked

Is there a critic score for this specific Clone 4 bottling?

Not one Cellared could independently verify. Vinous has reviewed other Meteor bottlings and the estate's Coombsville Cabernets broadly, but no fetched, allowlisted source names a score for this exact single-clone lot, so none appears here.

How is this different from Meteor's other estate wines?

Those are blended releases across the vineyard's clone lots. This Clone 4 bottling sits apart from them, a single clonal selection bottled on its own rather than blended into one of the estate's other wines.

How long should I decant this bottle?

Give it 30 to 45 minutes. Ten years past harvest and already inside its estimated peak window by Cellared's own model, the tannins have likely resolved enough that it doesn't need the long decant a much younger Napa Cabernet would.

What's distinctive about Coombsville as an appellation?

Vinous attributes the 'savory, minerally intensity' in Meteor's wines to the appellation's volcanic-ash soil and cooler setting within Napa, a different profile than the riper, more fruit-forward style central Napa Valley Cabernet often shows.