Winemaker Notes
The 2017 La Jota Cabernet Franc is perfumed with black and red fruit with hints of espresso bean and thyme. The palate is structured and expansive with a long finish. Incredibly approachable now, the 2017 will continue to develop beautifully for years to come.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Cabernet Franc Howell Mountain is very deep purple-black colored and gives expressive black cherries, kirsch, warm blackberries and boysenberry scents with touches of sawdust, red roses, camphor and cinnamon stick plus a waft of stewed tea. Full-bodied, the palate reveals a lot of depth with tons of red and black fruit layers and savory accents, framed by ripe, firm, grainy tannins, finishing with a refreshing lift and some mineral notions coming through.
Cabernet Franc, a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, is the subtler and more delicate of the Cabernets. Today Cabernet Franc produces outstanding single varietal wines across the wine-producing world. Somm Secret—One of California's best-kept secrets is the Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara. Here Cabernet Franc shines as a single varietal wine or in blends, expressing sumptuous fruit, savory aromas and polished tannins.
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.