Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Also beautiful, the 2019 Cabernet Franc checks in as 100% varietal that was raised in 67% new French oak. Inky purple in color, with a brilliant perfume of raspberries, cassis, spring flowers, scorched earth, and graphite, it hits the palate with medium-bodied richness, a terrific sense of elegance and purity, ripe yet present tannins, and a great finish. It's going to benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and shine for two decades.
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James Suckling
This is soft and round with juicy fruit. Blackberry, stone and gunflint. Full-bodied with firm tannins and an intense finish. Opens at the end with savory character. Green olives. Drinkable now, but better in 2025.
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Wine Enthusiast
Savory in black pepper, smoked meat and cigar box, this wine is high-toned aromatically, with lovely hints of violet and dried herb, sage and bay leaf. Mountain-sturdy tannins give it structure, power and room to age, with lasting acidity to keep it fresh. Enjoy best from 2029–2039.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Still based on Bill Smith's original block from the 1970s, plus some additional plantings, the 2019 Cabernet Franc Howell Mountain is 100% Cabernet Franc. Gentle florals and herbal notes of bay leaf and sage appear on the nose, adding savory complexity to the black cherries and red raspberries. Medium to full-bodied, silky, fine and elegant, this is a perennial favorite, drinkable on release and for a decade or more afterward.
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.