Winemaker Notes
Blend: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec, 2% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Deeper colored, the 2017 Arkenstone Estate Red offers a stunning bouquet of blackcurrants, dark chocolate, graphite, and lead pencil shavings. This rich, powerful, concentrated wine has ripe tannins, a stacked mid-palate, and a great, great finish. It's going to need 4-5 years of cellaring but will be long lived. The blend is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and the balance Malbec and Merlot, all aged 22 months in new barrels.
Rating: 94+ -
James Suckling
A nod to serious, dry white Bordeaux here. Full-bodied, dense and layered with lots of bitter-lemon, stone and sliced-apple flavors. Extremely long and flavorful. Excellent. Drink now or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Howell Mountain Estate Red Blend is composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec and 2% Merlot. It was aged for 22 months in 100% new French oak barrels. Deep garnet-purple colored, vibrant notes of black currant cordial, stewed plums and baked black cherries come sailing out of the glass with hints of sautéed herbs, damp soil and charcoal. Medium-bodied, the palate bursts with freshness, featuring open-knit, black fruit preserves flavors and soft, well-managed tannins, finishing long and earthy.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
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.