Winemaker Notes
O'Shaughnessy Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is an impressive wine from O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery. Bright acid and beams of tannin run through a core of dark red/purplish Howell Mountain fruit. Potent yet refined, the 2021 is a fine effort. Blueberry jam, plum, lavender, chocolate and graphite all build into a huge, vibrant finish
Blend: 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec, 3% Petit Verdot, 3% Saint-Macaire, 1% Cabernet Franc, 1% Carmenère
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Sitting on the edge of reduction with finely tuned, dark-fruit aromas of black olives, currants, graphite, cured meats, coffee beans and earth. The palate is full-bodied with a plush, refined mouthfeel and a long finish that remains fresh and balanced. A well-made Napa cabernet from a warm vintage. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Sourced from the family's estate vineyard, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is a blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec, 3% Petit Verdot, 3% Saint-Macaire, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Carmenère. Aged two years in 60% new French oak, it features hints of graham crackers on the nose, alongside gently pine needle-like herbal nuances and more straightforward notes of blueberries and plums. It's full-bodied—weighing in at 15.2% alcohol—and concentrated but also plush and softly tannic, with a long finish and no trace of heat.
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.