Ladera Howell Mountain Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
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The 2015 Ladera Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon displays a deep, ruby color with gorgeous aromas of black cherries and raspberry preserve with subtle notes of nutmeg and raw cacao. As the wine opens up, pervasive notes of potpourri and crushed stone add dimension and intrigue. The concentrated, well-structured palate is rich and pure with ripe black fruits, supple tannins finishing with a refreshing beam of acidity. Deserving of time, decant or cellar this wine to enjoy its full potential.
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Wine Enthusiast
This reserve-tier wine is densely concentrated in savory flavors of soy, leather and tobacco. The demure fruit leans into red currant, raspberry while structured in grippy, formidable tannin. A cellar-worthy wine, it will do well over time, expanding its reach into dark-chocolate and nutmeg underpinnings; enjoy best 2025–2030.
Cellar Selection -
James Suckling
A little one-dimensional with aromas and flavors of currants and ripe berries. Full and juicy. Shows some tension and balance in the palate.
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Wine & Spirits
Buxom in its supple fruit richness, this has notes of strawberries and cream along with substantial black tannins. Those tannins remain smooth, their astringency subtle, their structure sophisticated. Oak adds a toasty frame, the wine ready to take on roast game.
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2017-
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A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Today Cabernet Sauvignon is the star of this part of Napa’s rugged, eastern hills, but Zinfandel was responsible for giving the Howell Mountain growing area its original fame in the late 1800s.
Winemaking in Howell Mountain was abandoned during Prohibition, and wasn’t reawakened until the arrival of Randy Dunn, a talented winemaker famous for the success of Caymus in the 1970s and 1980s. In the early eighties, he set his sights on the Napa hills and subsequently astonished the wine world with a Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Shortly thereafter Howell Mountain became officially recognized as the first sub-region of Napa Valley (1983).
With vineyards at 1,400 to 2,000 feet in elevation, they predominantly sit above the fog line but the days in Howell Mountain remain cooler than those in the heart of the valley, giving the grapes a bit more time on the vine.
The Howell Mountain AVA includes 1,000 acres of vineyards interspersed by forestlands in the Vaca Mountains. The soils, shallow and infertile with good drainage, are volcanic ash and red clay and produce highly concentrated berries with thick skins. The resulting wines are full of structure and potential to age.
Today Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petite Sirah thrive in this sub-appellation, as well as its founding variety, Zinfandel.