Howell Mountain Vineyards

was originally founded in 1988 and specializes in Howell Mountain grown vineyards including Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon. What a great name of a winery whose namesake also is the appellation. Howell Mountain sits high above the Napa Valley floor (1400 feet and higher) and is well known for producing high quality Zinfandel’s and Cabernet Sauvignon. Many notable Napa area wineries have vineyards here. The Chow’s, residents of St. Helena since 1993, relocated to Hong Kong and found themselves missing and often trying California wines (especially from Napa). In 2005 the Chow Family purchased the Howell Mountain Vineyards brand and today they still source from the same vineyards. Special note must be mentioned about their two vineyards; The Beatty Ranch is home to the Zinfandel that goes into their Old Vine Zin and in fact is the oldest Zinfandel Vineyard on Howell Mountain. This vineyard dates from the early 1900′s and all the vines are head pruned. There is no trellising like you see on the valley floor and much of the area hillsides. Both vineyards are managed sustainably with little chemicals and are dry farmed.

The Black Sears Vineyard is unique in that it sits at 2400 feet. This is among a very select few Napa area vineyards at this elevation; we know of only one higher vineyard in Napa which sits on the Napa / Solano County line. The vines here are also head pruned and this vineyard is farmed organically. We tried their 2003 Howell Mountain Cabernet which is a blend of fruit from both of their vineyards. This wine is rich with concentrated fruit flavors as you would expect from these hillside vineyards. The 2005 Old Vine Zinfandel named Bear & Lion is one of our favorites. These two animals have been known to appear in the vineyards and as a result are honored on the label. This wine is incredibly rich in aroma with some amazing spices including the dominating aroma of white pepper. There is good fruit including cherry, plum and some chocolate flavors. The 2005 Beatty Ranch Zinfandel has a very fruit forward nose with some spices including vanilla on the finish. The only wine not from Howell Mountain is their Chardonnay. While the wineries’ vineyards are private, they have future plans to build a new winery on site but for the time being you can taste their wine at the A Dozen Vintners walk-in collective tasting room, located north of the town of St. Helena. As of press time they make their wine in a custom crush facility in south Napa. Their winemaker is Dave Phinney who runs on his own label, the wildly successful Orin Swift Cellars. Visit: www.howellmountain.com

NOTE: This review has been archived.
REASON: Stopped producing wine commercially