Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another beauty is the 2009 Fortification, a spicy, complex, layered effort with a thrilling texture as well as a great bouquet of sweet tobacco, cigar wrapper, chocolate, sandalwood, iron, and mulled currants. This rich, utterly seamless Port-like effort has perfectly integrated sweetness, a powerful yet weightless mouthfeel, and a rock star of a finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Even though it is somewhat lighter and less profound than the 2008, 2007 or 2005, the 2009 is still an extraordinary vintage port-like effort from Hundred Acre. Unbelievably rich, full-bodied and unctuously textured with that viscosity often provided by fortified products, but with no hard edges, it reveals a beautiful integration of brandy, a stunning coffee-like richness, and plenty of blackberry, blueberry and creme de cassis notes intermixed with hints of smoky barbecued meats. This is another stunner from Hundred Acre. Drink: now- 2065.
Port is a sweet, fortified wine with numerous styles: Ruby, Tawny, Vintage, Late Bottled Vintage (LBV), White, Colheita, and a few unusual others. It is blended from from the most important red grapes of the Douro Valley, based primarily on Touriga Nacional with over 80 other varieties approved for use. Most Ports are best served slightly chilled at around 55-65°F. To learn more, see our full Port Wine Guide
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.