OADE Single Barrel Cabernet Sauvignon - Howell Mountain
$125.00
Description:
The Vineyard: Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, from Napa Valley's elevated, rugged northeastern AVA (starting around 1,400 feet above the valley floor), is renowned for its powerful, structured, and age-worthy profile, shaped by volcanic ash, red clay, and rocky soils that stress vines for small berries, thick skins, and intense concentration. The hallmark of Howell Mountain wines is unmistakable power and longevity
The Vintage: 2021 was a warm, dry year following multiple drought conditions in Napa Valley, resulting in low yields, small berries, and highly concentrated fruit. Harvest started early with no major heat spikes or disruptions. An ideal vintage with gradual heat that allowed winemakers to pick leisurely and hang time to impact quality tannin. This produced wines with intense dark fruit, firm but ripe tannins, excellent structure, freshness, and balance. Critics and producers highlight it as one of the finest recent vintages for mountain appellations like Howell Mountain.
The Barrel: Aged in Darnajou barrels. These barrels are renowned for using premium French oak (primarily from central France's oldest forests like Allier, Nevers, or similar tight-grain sources), selected with exhaustive specifications for exceptional fineness, density of grain, sweetness, and aromatic/chromatic complexity. This results in barrels that subtly enhance a wine's intrinsic aromas without overpowering it, delivering elegant integration of delicate vanilla, spice, toast, cocoa, candied fruit, and savory notes.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: bold aromas of ripe black fruits—blackberry, black currant, cassis, boysenberry, and plum—layered with savory mountain elements like scorched earth, graphite, iron, crushed rock minerality, dried herbs, pine needles, tobacco, leather, and some subtle espresso.
Palate: Full-bodied density, firm tannins providing serious grip and structure, vibrant acidity for freshness and balance, and flavors echoing the nose with dark fruit, earthy undertones, and subtle spice or oak integration. A very opulent wine that transforms in the glass over time.
Finish: The long, muscular finish carries lingering minerality, a mix of black fruit, and integrated herbal notes. This wine has intensity and power capable of decades of aging in the bottle.