Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is approaching an early plateau of maturity. It offers up an attractive mélange of dark cherry, plum, spice, new leather, licorice and dried herbs. Medium in body, with mostly resolved tannins, the 2011 is a terrific choice for drinking now and over the next 5-10 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Betty O’Shaughnessy and her winemaker, Sean Capiaux, have fashioned a 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain (82% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot) that is soft, round, juicy and succulent. Its deep ruby/purple color is followed by a wine with velvety tannins, and lots of mulberry, blueberry and black raspberry fruit intermixed with a hint of wet rocks. This delicious, fruit-forward, supple-textured 2011 can be consumed over the next decade.
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.