Winemaker Notes
Blend: 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 3% Merlot
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Bottled under screwcap and a blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Merlot all from Howell Mountain, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate offers serious intensity and depth in its black, black fruits, scorched earth, charcoal and smoke tobacco-like aromas and flavors. Ripe, concentrated and tannic, it's one good looking Cabernet Sauvignon that needs forgotten for 4-5 years and enjoyed over the following 15+ years.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015s, which are somewhat surprisingly already in bottle, include the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate that is an identical blend to the 2014. The wine is dense ruby/purple, plump, juicy and fleshy with plenty of blackberry and cassis fruit. It cuts an even bigger mouth-texture and richness than its older sibling. This is a beauty to drink over the next 12-15 years.
-
James Suckling
A dense and polished red with lots of blackberry and blueberry character, as well as round and finely textured tannins. Full body with driven fruit and tannins. Licorice, berry and chocolate aftertaste. A big wine that shows tension and form. Drink in 2020 but attractive now if you like the youthful fruit.
-
Wine Spectator
Dark, plush and powerful, with extracted tannins and dark berry, cedar, earth and crushed rock flavors, yet for all the torque here, there’s a seam of elegance making this enjoyable now. Drink now through 2030.
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.