Forefront by Pine Ridge Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
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A FOCUS ON QUALITY. Long before Napa Valley became known as the one of the world’s most remarkable winegrowing regions, the Andrus family understood its potential. They founded Pine Ridge winery in the now-famous Stags Leap District. Experimenting with clones, rootstocks and winemaking techniques, they paid meticulous attention to every detail, from vineyard to bottle, and embraced innovation in the pursuit of ever higher quality.
NO BOUNDARIES. After developing Pine Ridge, the Andrus family began to explore other emerging wine regions, from the Pacific Northwest to New Zealand. In Oregon, their Burgundian philosophies brought wine quality to a new level. They adopted the grand cru model, with its emphasis on terroir, and cultivated numerous French clones that they matched to the region’s growing conditions. To provide ideal aging temperatures, they drilled the state’s first underground wine caves. Their forward thinking helped to establish Oregon as one of the world’s premier Pinot Noir producers.
The passion, commitment and adventurous spirit of the Andrus family is well known within the wine industry. With ForeFront, we honor their vision and their contributions with wines that challenge the traditional.
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.