Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Combines power, authority and grace, with full-throttle Cabernet flavors built around wild berry, blackberry, currant, cedar, tobacco and licorice notes. This is defined by elegance, finesse and integrated tannins. Best from 2018 through 2030.
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James Suckling
Hot-stone, walnut and currant character. Medium body, fine and silky tannins and a pretty finish. White-pepper undertones. Very pretty wine now. Why wait? Delicious.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Another high-elevation site for Tor Kenward is his 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Cimarossa Vineyard from a steep vineyard planted at a 2,100-foot elevation on Howell Mountain. This vineyard is often used in the Beringer Private Reserve program. This wine is one of the more backward of the 2014s, with high tannin, full body, loads of mulberry, graphite, licorice and blue and black fruits. It is rich and would probably benefit from several years of bottle age and keep for 25-30 years.
Rating: 93+ -
Vinous
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Cimarossa is a big, bombastic wine. A blast of black cherry, chocolate, licorice, spice and tobacco are all dialed up to the maximum. Dense and opulent to the core, the 2014 is notably rich. It is also starting to show some signs of evolution. Any remaining bottles need to be finished.
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.