Wine & Spirits - December 2019 - 47

YEAR'S BEST US CABERNETS & BLENDS
and black soil pungency for now. Yet underneath all that mineral austerity, there's a
finely wrought and gracious cabernet, its
sweet fruit overshadowed by the structure,
even as that fruit makes a strong claim to its
place in the potential longevity of the wine.
(488 cases) -J.G.
518442

92 | Beringer

$150

2016 Howell Mountain Napa Valley Single Vineyard Steinhauer Ranch Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon ^ This vineyard, facing
southwest at the top of Howell Mountain,
took Bob Steinhauer's name in 2003, a tribute to his work as Beringer's vineyard manager-he was one of the most talented and
articulate farmers of his day. The site is comprised of several hills, topping out at 1,890
feet in elevation, where the soils are volcanic
and a deep, iron-rich red. It's fascinating to
compare this with the Bancroft Ranch 2016
(also recommended here), both made by
Mark Beringer, a descendent of the founders. The red soils at Steinhauer produced
a meaty wine, cool in its sense of elevation
while tumbling into sunny warmth. The dark
fruit has meaty savor and a tomato-skin grip
that carries the wine with energy and motion.
It should age well. (468 cases) -J.G.
518440

92 | Beringer

$150

92 | Davies Vineyards

$100

92 | Duckhorn

$98

2014 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon ^ If you appreciate long-lived mountain
wines, you might enjoy tasting this wine in
its youth. Dan Veit of Carbon Beach Club in
Malibu described it as "an umami tsunami,"
noting the squid-ink blackness of the tannins. Those tannins are powerful, marked
by the drought, as if you can feel the vines
respiring moisture in an arid place. They
brick off the wine's black fruit with a wall of
coffee and cola scents, but there's a fresher,
foresty tone leading toward complexity. Veit

suggested cellaring it for a long time, then
drinking it slowly, with venison. (W&S 6/19;
1,923 cases) -J.G.
516874

92 | Bravante

WINTER WHITE WINE

F E S T I VA L

F E B R U A R Y

2 2 - 2 3

2 0 2 0

2016 Howell Mountain Napa Valley Single Vineyard Bancroft Ranch Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon ^ One of the most distinctive vineyards in Napa Valley, Bancroft
Ranch is a set of rolling hills that rise to 1,800
feet, the soil a block of pale white volcanic
ash where the vines required some patience
to establish their roots. Once they did, the
site's cool, sunny elevations began producing structured, long-lived merlots as well as
zesty cabernets like this 2016, with its volcanic intensity. It's a black wine from white
soil, bright in its glimmers of red fruit, craggy
in its coal-dust tannins. An impressive vintage from Bancroft, and a wine to keep. (494
cases) -J.G.
518323
2016 Howell Mountain Napa Valley Red
Cap Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Just
bold, plummy fruit when first poured, this
immediately feels sleeker than most Howell Mountain cabernets. The brisk, volcanic
intensity powers up as the wine opens, creating a tension among the earthy tannins, the
oak sweetness and the plum-skin savor of the
fruit. Those elements feel integrated even as
they pull in three directions, needing bottle
age to mellow. (200 cases) -J.G.
516423

$65

2014 Howell Mountain Napa Valley Trio ^
This is blunt at first, with a rose-petal scent
that belies its initially powerful stance. Forget
it in a decanter for an hour or two, and when
you come back to it, you'll find the volcanic
soils more clearly expressed in the wine's tannins, as they shape and detail the heady, rich
black-cherry fruit. A potent blend of caber-

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WHY RIESLING? EDUCATIONAL SEMINAR, GRAND TASTING,
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Wine & Spirits - December 2019

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