Ladera Howell Mountain Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is a red beauty and possibly the best wine I have yet tasted from Ladera, while this barrel sample is not quite yet in bottle, it is very promising. The wine has a dense ruby/purple color, notes of lead pencil shavings, white chocolate, cassis and blueberry, it is very perfumed, medium to full-bodied, with real purity, texture and overall balance. In many ways it cuts a hypothetical composition between a top Bordeaux and a top Napa Cabernet. This is young and should drink well in keeping with the vintage, but also hold well for 15-20 years. Barrel Sample: 90-93 Points.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2012 Ladera Reserve Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon delivers excellent richness on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers aromas and flavors of black fruit and accents of oak. Enjoy it with a grilled ribeye. (Tasted: December 13, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
A firm, muscular style that exhibits taut black cherry, dark berry, lead pencil, savory herb and underbrush notes. Gains on the finish. The tannins are pleasantly grainy, holding the flavors on the palate. Best from 2015 through 2026.
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A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Today Cabernet Sauvignon is the star of this part of Napa’s rugged, eastern hills, but Zinfandel was responsible for giving the Howell Mountain growing area its original fame in the late 1800s.
Winemaking in Howell Mountain was abandoned during Prohibition, and wasn’t reawakened until the arrival of Randy Dunn, a talented winemaker famous for the success of Caymus in the 1970s and 1980s. In the early eighties, he set his sights on the Napa hills and subsequently astonished the wine world with a Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Shortly thereafter Howell Mountain became officially recognized as the first sub-region of Napa Valley (1983).
With vineyards at 1,400 to 2,000 feet in elevation, they predominantly sit above the fog line but the days in Howell Mountain remain cooler than those in the heart of the valley, giving the grapes a bit more time on the vine.
The Howell Mountain AVA includes 1,000 acres of vineyards interspersed by forestlands in the Vaca Mountains. The soils, shallow and infertile with good drainage, are volcanic ash and red clay and produce highly concentrated berries with thick skins. The resulting wines are full of structure and potential to age.
Today Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petite Sirah thrive in this sub-appellation, as well as its founding variety, Zinfandel.