2023 Howell Mountain, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Howell Mountain rises above the Napa Valley fog line, between 1,400 and 2,600 feet of altitude — a highland of sun and stone where vines must fight for every inch of life. The soils are a mix of decomposed volcanic ash, known as tufa, and red clay, both meager in fertility but rich in character. Drainage is excellent, roots run deep, and the grapes ripen slowly in the dry mountain air. The terrain is steep and rugged; tractors are useless here, so each vine is farmed by hand — pruned, tended, and harvested with the same patience the mountain demands. Above the clouds, the days are warmer than the valley below, the nights cool and still, and the silence only broken by the sound of the wind against the pines. This is a place that doesn’t yield easily, and that’s precisely why its wines carry such strength and soul.

Our 2023 Howell Mountain, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a portrait of altitude and resolve. It opens with deep aromas of black cherry, boysenberry, and mountain herbs, followed by delicate traces of cocoa, cedar, and tobacco leaf. On the palate, the wine is firm with broad shoulders and a lifted core of dark red fruit that keeps it alive and articulate. The tannins are confident — fine-grained and austere. You can feel the mountain in every sip: the structure, the restraint, the patience. It’s a Cabernet that knows where it comes from — bold, arrogant, powerful. This wine needs time in the cellar to reveal all its potential.

By plunging our 2023 Howell Mountain, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon into Ocean Fathoms’ patented underwater cellar, we send the mountain-born wine on a sea-bound sabbatical. Within specially crafted cages submerged in pristine Pacific waters, a natural galvanic current sets in motion a silent transformation: the tannins soften, the interplay of oak, fruit and acidity begins to whisper rather than shout. The result is a Cabernet that loses none of its mountainous backbone, yet gains a velvety edge and an approachable grace — the arrogance of youth smoothed by the sea’s slow rock. The wine resurfaces with its structure intact but harmonized, the layers of flavor seamlessly integrated, the finish polished, and the texture now like silk flowing over stone.