Winemaker Notes
Bancroft Ranch is one of 7 reserve vineyards that comprise Beringer's acclaimed Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. The prized collection of vineyards is the result of a significant and decades-long relationship between viticulture and winemaking. Each single vineyard demonstrates a remarkable expression of terroir.
Howell Mountain rises just to the northeast of Beringer's winery in St. Helena, and Bancroft Ranch lies at an elevation of 1,800 feet on the western slope of the mountain. The soil here - gritty white tuff of volcanic origin - is shallow, infertile and extremely well drained. The vines produce small, intensely flavored berries with powerful, concentrated fruit flavors and thick skins that yield rich tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
One of Beringer's newest projects is to expand the top of their portfolio, offering limited quantities (approximately 200 case lots) of single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons from the different terroirs. Other wines to look for from the single-vineyard collection series include the 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon Bancroft Vineyard. This opaque purple-colored wine offers toasty, smoky oak in its nose, as well as the tell-tale cassis and mineral aromas that emerge from Howell Mountain wines. Rich, powerful, full-bodied flavors, and excellent purity and sweetness of fruit further characterize this broad-shouldered wine.
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Wine Spectator
This is an ultraripe yet sturdy wine, supported by firm tannins wrapped around the core of ripe plum, currant, prune and mineral nuances. It fairly gushes with rich flavors, yet is also quite powerful, with a long, detailed aftertaste.
As California's longest continuously operating winery, Beringer has been defining Napa Valley winemaking since it was founded by Jacob and Frederick Beringer in 1876. By continuing that pioneering spirit, Beringer established many 'firsts' as leaders in the wine industry. They were one of the first gravity fed facilities and among the first to operate using hand dug caves and cellars. Beringer were the first to give public tours in 1934, starting a Napa Valley hospitality tradition. They are the first and only winery to have both a red and a white wine named #1 Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator Magazine. Today, they proudly celebrate and remain true to their pioneering legacy.
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.