2023 Castiel Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 750 ml

Castiel Estate has been one of Howell Mountain's quiet overachievers since Dave and Kathleen DiCesaris produced their first vintage in 2014—a small-production Cabernet that consistently punches well above its weight against the AVA's most celebrated bottles. The 2023 vintage marks a bold new chapter, and it's the most compelling wine they've made.

Maayan Koschitzky came up through Screaming Eagle and Dalla Valle before Philippe Melka recruited him to join Atelier Melka, the consulting firm behind some of Napa's most sought-after Cabernets, where he rose to become director of winemaking and a full partner. Born in Israel to a multi-generational farming family, he made wine there for seven years before setting foot in California—and that background shows in how he handles fruit.

The 2023 growing season was a genuine anomaly—cool and foggy where Napa summers are usually punishing, with a harvest stretching deep into October. Howell Mountain, perched above the fog line on volcanic soils, was built for a year like this: long hang time, no heat stress, tannins that ripened slowly and completely.

Kathleen DiCesaris started in the wine world in the 1990s as an educator at Freemark Abbey. Dave was a college basketball star who played at Pomona under future Hall of Fame coach Greg Popovich. It wasn't the wine-loving Pop who turned Dave onto wine, but a colleague in Los Angeles who recommended Dave unwind from a stressful week by heading to Napa.

Dave whipped up a list of wineries to visit, and when he glimpsed Kathleen at Freemark Abbey—BOOM, love at first site. Fast forward to Dave and Kathleen honeymooning at Meadowood. Then, in 2014, they purchased a site on Howell Mountain, a stone's throw from CADE. Jim Barbour told them about the site. Deal done.

For the 2023 vintage, Maayan sourced fruit from two world-class sites on the eastern slopes of the AVA—one among the most celebrated vineyard addresses on Howell Mountain, the other a small, impeccably farmed micro-vineyard at 1,700 feet on loam and volcanic soils. He vinified 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from clones 4, 169, and See, rested it 20 months in 70% new French oak, and hand-harvested in two passes on September 17th and October 11th.