Winemaker Notes
Vogt vineyard is located on Howell Mountain. The 15-acre vineyard has volcanic-based soils that are restrictive and thus foster grapes of great intensity and structure. Vogt vineyard first appeared in the Private Reserve blend at the 2009 vintage. Vogt Cabernet shows a luscious fruit core from the outset, accentuated by ripe tannins. The 2015 Vogt was aged for 20 months in 92% new French oak barrels. Careful attention is paid to vineyard blocks, which are kept separate and vinified with a goal of extracting maximum flavor.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of walnut shell and dark earth and black fruits. Blueberries, too. Full-bodied, round and juicy. Love the richness and brightness of this wine. Dense and poised. Tight and reserved. Needs two or three years to open.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Vogt Vineyard has an intensely spicy nose with notes of cinnamon, anise, fenugreek and pepper over a core of warm black and red currants with waft of sandalwood. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is built like a brick house with firm, chewy tannins and great freshness cutting through the liquid spice flavors, finishing long.
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Wine Spectator
Tannins emerge as the dominant theme here, but time should reward the flavors of gravelly dark berry, cedar, pencil shavings and tar. Best from 2021 through 2031.
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.