2017 Editorial Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Napa Valley 750 ml

The latest missive from our erstwhile journalist buddy landed in our inbox Sunday morning. The discretionary nature of the deal limits us from telling you the name of the producer, but they’re one of the greatest estates on Howell Mountain, netting 99-point scores from both Robert Parker and Jeb Dunnuck and boasting one of the Valley’s most talented winemakers on the payroll. 

This is an astounding deal even by our standards—our ink-stained friend explains the unique nuptial circumstances behind why a juggernaut Napa Cabernet that should cost $250 is being made available to you at $40. A one-off deal on the last barrel, whose contents—dense with mountain fruit concentration, outlined in chocolate-y, fine-grained tannins—will never see the inside of a wine shop.

From: ____________@gmail.com>

Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2019 11:14 AM

To: Vanessa Conlin ____________@wineaccess.com>

Subject: Better than what they poured at Cana!

Vanessa, 

Have you ever been to a wedding on Howell Mountain? It’s a magnificent thing. The Napa brides all want to get married in October these days, and after yesterday’s festivities, I can see why. The hint of coolness in the steely clear air; the autumn sun shining bright and warm; across the mountaintop, the earthy, dry smell of fields coming to harvest by day and a night sky carpeted with stars.

I was at _____ for a wedding they were hosting for their niece. Dining tables pushed right up to the edge of the vineyard, crushed berries and grass underfoot, overlooking the shimmering Lake Hennessey while we were caressed by high-elevation breezes. As the sun set low in the valley, the staff brought out gold candelabras to the long oak tables, dressed with ivory dahlias.

I’ve drank some real wedding wine plonk in my day—sugary-sweet Pinot Grigios, scaldingly tannic Cabernets, you name it. But, being on Howell Mountain, naturally I was expecting one of Howell Mountain’s legends and a winemaker with First Growth expertise to pour something good—but this good?? Dense magenta in the glass, opulent but disciplined, wild mountain berries bracketed with cedar, pipe tobacco, and licorice—this was something you’d expect to see on Wine Spectator’s Top 100, being poured for maybe 60 guests! If you’d have served this to me in a restaurant, I’d be hoping I wasn’t footing the bill. A Napa mountain wine of this caliber would run $200+ on the shelf. They must really like their niece.

After a night in one of the guesthouses, I was up early, a little worse for wear, and caught the winemaker outside looking similarly unruffled. He poured me a coffee spiked with amaretto, sparked up two leftover celebratory cigars, and we went for a walk as the morning fog sifted across the valley floor below, illuminated in the AM sunlight like a lacey veil.

I remarked that there was something in the combination of cigar smoke, rich, roasted coffee bean, and a touch of dried cherry that reminded me of the Cabernet I’d had last night. He nodded. It starts with the soil: poor and infertile, a mix of iron-rich red clay and “tufa” or decomposed volcanic ash, which accounted for the wine’s mineral finish and hint of tobacco. The vineyards are above the fog line, so they receive more sun, yet the microclimate and 1,200 feet in elevation keep things cooler than the valley floor. This creates small clusters of tiny berries with a terrifically high skin-to-juice ratio, leading to the wine’s inky magenta color and rich, full tannins.

The wine sees close to two years in French oak, but they try to leave it a bit wild and untamed, true to the mountain fruit legacy. A few barrels had been set aside in 2017 in anticipation of the wedding, overestimating how much they’d need. 

If he was looking to move anything leftover at profit, I knew some folks who would do so discreetly. He scratched his cheek. “Would they take a barrel?”

You guys owe me for this one—it’s special.

T.

Unlike a lot of stiff-necked Napa mountain Cabernets, this was crafted for enjoyment now, as well as on a five year anniversary, uncoiling in the glass even without decanting. This a rare under-the-table deal that only the closest Napa connections can net. Yours for a pittance today, just $40.