Winemaker Notes
This wine is bottled with cork or screwcap closure*.
*Specific closure type cannot be requested.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve comes in a unique bottle that is similar to the special bottle used by Joseph Phelps for their Insignia (which reminds me of a grenade). A blockbuster superstar, this inky/purple-hued 2012 is filled with crème de cassis, blueberry and mulberry fruit that hides any notion of its oak aging. Opulent, voluptuously textured, multilayered and stunningly rich with a finish that lasts 45+ seconds, this magnificent Cabernet should age effortlessly for two decades or more. But who can wait that long? Not me.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the reserve releases, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve offers more black fruits as well as powerful notes of iron, sagebrush, and flowers. It’s not massive but has full-bodied richness, an elegant, seamless mouthfeel, and a good sense of freshness. It’s still a substantially bigger, richer wine than the classic cuvée and has the textbook 2012 sexiness that makes the vintage so compelling. It needs air if drinking any time soon and easily has another 15 years of prime drinking.
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Wine Spectator
A textural triumph, offering a smooth carpet ride toward the core of layered dark berry, mocha, brownie crust and plush blackberry flavors. Precise and focused, ending with a long, reverberating aftertaste. Best from 2016 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.