Howell at the Moon is owned by Marc Cohen a retired doctor who worked 27 years for NYU Medical School in New York City. Marc has a long-standing fascination with wine and started collecting in the early 1970s. A trip to California in 1982 was the first time he visited Napa Valley; he was impressed with the beauty of the land and the passion of those in the wine industry. 18 years later he retired from his urology practice in New York and purchased a gorgeous 21-acre piece of land in the hills above Angwin in the northern part of Napa Valley.
Mark originally built Howell at the Moon around a beautiful, secluded vineyard at about 2,000 feet above sea level in the Howell Mountain Appellation. His vineyard was surrounded by native vegetation including oaks and pines; despite the encroaching forest, his vineyard had very good sun exposure and the grapes always ripened. Since our initial visit with Mark and a tasting at a memorable pool party, Mark has since sold this property to Clif Family Winery.
Starting a new brand on Howell Mountain was not without a few bumps in the road as the Angwin area is home to numerous wineries but is also home to the Seventh-day Adventists, whose religion prevents them from drinking wine. Many of his neighbors practice this religion; Marc had an open house to alleviate fears of planting vineyards and building a winery. Only 4 people showed up. Marc then took the step of visiting every one of his neighbors personally to tell them he wasn’t going to damage their property or his own. Fortunately, the opposition abated, and he did finally secure all the necessary permits. The first vintage of Howell at the Moon was in 2003, merely 25 cases. Early vintages were crushed at Fantesca Winery.
The winery name is quite appropriate and is partly based on the location of Marc’s original vineyards located in the middle of forested land far from the lights of any cities with good visibility at night. His vineyards were planted to several clones of Cabernet Sauvignon with both a lower (Lillian’s Vineyard) and upper vineyard (called the Knoll vineyard) – the last vintages from these vineyards (referred to as the Home Vineyard) were in 2014. Marc owned a Jack Russell Terrier named Tysie, whose image appears on his label howling at the moon which is a clever play on words for the winery name. Tysie in Old French means high spirited or a firebrand.
No expense was spared in building the vineyard architecture and initial development. A soils analyst with a nickname of “Dr. Dirt” made recommendations for specific rootstalk and clonal types depending on the individual vineyard soil blocks. These clonal recommendations were in part based on the type of wine that Marc enjoys drinking and are in part clones that help produce a softer style of wine. During his ownership of the vineyard, one of Napa’s oldest and most well respected “wine” families the Pina’s provided the vineyard management services. Incidentally, the Pina’s manage their own vineyard on Howell Mountain as well as provide management services for a select number of other small vineyards in the appellation.
Initially, Howell at the Moon did not source any grapes rather they focused on producing a 100% estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon each year. After the sale of his property, Mark began sourcing grapes including from Mt. Veeder.
Several winemakers have crafted the wines over the years including founding winemaker Aaron Pott. It was Pott who first told Marc to produce 100% varietal wines, a philosophy they have kept despite changes in winemakers. Following Pott, Sara Gott produced the wines; today Howell at the Moon’s primary winemaker is Timothy Milos.
Milos first worked harvest in Napa Valley in 1997. In the mid 1990s he studied at Cornell University, in the Molecular Plant Pathology program as part of their doctoral program. He graduated from UC Davis in 1999 with a degree in Enology. Wile studying at Davis he worked his first harvest in Napa Valley in 1997. Since 2004 he runs Vino di Milos, a consulting company. He currently or has consulted for numerous premium wineries or wine brands in both Napa Valley and Sonoma County including Haber Family, RD Winery and Tank Garage Winery. And he is part the multi-winemaking team for Carneros based J&S Lee Vineyard, a wine project we have been intimately involved in since the beginning.
Marc isn’t a hands-off retired doctor interested in wine; during the same year that he retired he completed a BS degree in Management as he already knew by that time that he wanted to get into the wine business. In addition, he has taken courses in wine marketing and wine making from Napa Valley College. As in his former practice, Marc has a continuing appetite for new knowledge and information in the wine industry.
And in the early 2000s he was one of the principals of Myth Restaurant and Lounge located at 470 Pacific Avenue in the financial district in San Francisco. He helped oversee a wine list featuring eclectic and hard to find wines. The restaurant sold in 2006 and is no longer in business.
All vintages are unfined and unfiltered. Indigenous yeasts are used during the fermentation and free run juice (the highest quality) is exclusively used. The wine sees extended maceration. Part of their philosophy is to create a wine that can be consumed now, but also has the structure to hold up for aging. However, this doesn’t mean up-front robust and gripping tannins. Howell at the Moon’s wines showcase a density of mountain structure but with rounded and approachable structure. Each wine is always 100% varietal but with a blend of various clones.
Select Wines
The 2021 Howell at the Moon Howell Mountain Knoll Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is medium to deep ruby; the bouquet is focused on the fruit with the oak, a complementary and much lighter character. We like that. The nose offers scents of dark raspberry, plum, red cherry, and blackberry with a light note of tobacco spice in the background. On the palate, there are flavors of blackberry, dark cherry, plum and boysenberry. For a fairly structured vintage in Napa Valley, this wine is remarkably approachable in its youth. For reference, we tasted this bottle in 2025. Bright and fresh, the finish lingers with lightly grainy and gravelly textured tannins which parallel the fruit for some time on the extended finish. And also persists with a dusty character and notes of dry herbs.
The 2019 Howell at the Moon Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby and opaque; the bouquet is darkly fruited and fully ripe with aromas of dark cherry, blackberry jam, boysenberry preserves, baked plums, mulberry preserve and dark fig. It also features plenty of secondary aromatics including mocha, espresso, toffee, assorted sweet baking spices and dark chocolate. This wine will be the star of the show among enthusiasts who favor plenty of fruit, ripeness and dessert spices. The palate mimics the bouquet to some extent with flavors of chocolate, dark plums, dark cherry, blackberry, boysenberry and Persian mulberry. With additional layers of dark spices including crushed peppercorn, smoked sage, toasted cedar, tobacco, including dried tobacco leaf and an earthy, chalky and highly persistent drying character. The grainy, broadly coating and still firmly gripping tannins ultimately outpace the fruit on the savory finish. We tried this wine 6 years post vintage. Pair with a well marbled cut of beef – perhaps a ribeye.
The 2018 Howell at the Moon Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain is deep ruby color in the glass with highly appealing fruit driven aromatics including ripe blackberry and boysenberry complemented nicely with brown chocolate. A generous helping of old cedar box initially shows (this is the smell of the interior of a particular cedar box we still have in our possession from our grandmother who used it for many years to hold some of her jewelry). But let this wine breathe for some time – the aromatics become more generous, this note dissipates somewhat, and more fruit is revealed. Opulent with plenty of flavor across the palate including spicy plum, blackberry and some savory notes on the finish including toasted cedar and dried herbs. Both wood and grape tannins show – they are long lasting, with a nice textural feel without any heavy grip. We noticed a significant textural difference as compared to the 2019 bottling. Pair with a Wagyu steak on the barbie or a cigar, poolside on a warm summer evening.
The 2013 Howell at the Moon Howell Mountain Knoll Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is medium to deep ruby; the bouquet smells both elegant and ripe, with scents of blackberry, dark raspberry, black cherry accompanied by a hint of sage, dark mocha and milk chocolate. Give it time in the glass, the barrel influences will blow off, and it will become more fruit driven at this age. On the palate there are flavors of blackberry, boysenberry, and Persian mulberry. The broadly coating tannins linger with a moderately textured and persistent dusty/chalky and gravely grip beyond the fruit on the finish. Finishes savory with notes of dried herbs and white pepper. This wine has held up very well 12 years post vintage. This vintage produced robust wines from Napa Valley and needed time in the bottle to be tamed; age has been very friendly to this bottling.
The 2011 Howell at the Moon Cabernet Sauvignon, The Knoll Vineyard is deep garnet in color, showing some noticeable color evolution due to its age; for reference, we needled and nosed this bottle 14 years post vintage. It is showing plenty of secondary and tertiary aromatics which dominate its fruit characteristics including chocolate, coffee, toffee, caramel, espresso, toast and cigar box. Additional layers are of dried fruits including blackberry, dark cherry and cooked red plums. The fruit starts showing a bit more as the wine evolves and opens. Fairly ripe across the palate for such a cold vintage, it offers flavors of dark chocolate, blackberry, dried black cherries, a tobacco spice, smoked cedar and a note of dried tobacco leaf, which is the final note to show up on the finish. Shows a bright acidity although not as lively as some of the aged 2011 Napa Valley wines from this variety we have tried recently. This wine lingers with well tumbled and lightly gravelly textured tannins with a persistent dusty and chalky note, broadly coating the palate. And with its time in the bottle, it has developed a slight umami character.
During our first visit to Marc’s property on Howell Mountain many years ago we tried the 2005 Howell at the Moon Cabernet Sauvignon which at the time of our tasting in 2008 was still a young wine; it can certainly be decanted and allowed to open up for 30 minutes before drinking. It is dark ruby in color; the bouquet sports cedar box spices, vanilla & floral overtones including of violets. But there are plenty of ripe fruit aromas here including cherry and blueberry. On the palate there are rich and layered flavors tasting of blueberry and raspberry. And it also shows toasted oak with some spices including black pepper towards the finish; this wine lingers with fairly fine-grained tannins. Long, longer and longest describe the finish on this wine. Will you have the patience to age this for additional complexity?
During a follow-up tasting we also tried the 2006 Howell at the Moon Cabernet Sauvignon which was released in November 2009. This is a noticeably bigger wine as compared to the 2005 vintage, both in terms of fruit intensity and structural power.
For the 2013 harvest, Mark looked to the other side of the valley and produced a Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon; this was his first ever Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon; he made only one more vintage of this wine in 2014.
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The Howell at the Moon wines are now primarily sold in the New York City market – often at select restaurants. New York City has been a market for the Howell at the Moon wines since Marc introduced his first wines to several restaurants and hotels there. One can sometimes find select vintages locally at ACME Wine Shop in St. Helena, or at Meadowood Resort. And the wines are available for tastings at several consumer events throughout the year including those produced by the Howell Mountain Appellation of which Howell at the Moon has been a member since 2005.
For more information, to order wine or to join their mailing list, visit: www.howellatthemoonwine.com
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