Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Extremely perfumed aromas of tangerines and violets with blackberries, cassis and wet earth. Full-bodied yet reserved and very precise with amazing purity of currants, blackberries and lightly burnt oranges. Superb finish of firm yet extremely polished tannins. Perfect. Hard not to drink now, but better after four to five years. Try after 2023.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another magical effort, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Hershey Vineyard reveals a deep, saturated ruby/purple color as well as a brilliant bouquet of crème de cassis, forest floor, tobacco, bouquet garni, and dried herbs. Deep, full-bodied, and powerful, it has building structure, loads of ripe tannins, a seamless texture, and a heavenly finish. Drink this thrilling, multi-dimensional Cabernet Sauvignon over the coming 20-25 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Hershey Vineyard fermented 77% in oak tanks, 16% in barrels and 7% in concrete. It spent 21 to 33 days on the skins and aged 27 months in French oak barrels. Deep garnet-purple in color, it delivers very serious, classic cassis, cedar chest, pencil shavings and warm plums notes with nuances of lavender, dark chocolate, tobacco and crushed rocks with a waft of black olives. Full-bodied, the palate is solidly structured with firm, chunky tannins and bold freshness supporting the densely packed, muscular fruit, finishing long and mineral-laced.
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.