La Jota Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon

Resulting from a truly remarkable vintage, the La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon is a masterful expression of fruit concentration and mountain driven texture and minerality. Lauded by the critics, this site-driven Cabernet Sauvignon is an instant classic.

The La Jota Vineyard lies high upon a volcanic plateau, looking east over Napa Valley. Surrounded by pine, fir, oak and madrone trees, the estate stands out because of its cool, windswept climate. Here we look to vineyard blocks that produce soft-textured Cabernet Sauvignon for wines of earlier approachability, and where the decomposed granite soils of our W.S. Keyes Vineyard impart a pop of bright fruit character and broader tannins.

We hand-harvested grapes into small, 30-pound boxes to prevent crushing, and then we brought them to the winery for hand-sorting. After destemming and light crushing, the must was cold-soaked for gentle color, flavor and tannin extraction. Winemaker Chris Carpenter fermented the juice with native yeast in a combination of open and closed-top stainless steel tanks. Following gentle basket press, the wine underwent in-barrel malolactic fermentation, rounding the acidity and integrating the vanilla character of French oak. The wine was barrel-aged for 20 months and bottled unfined and unfiltered.

VARIETAL TYPE: Cabernet Sauvignon.

APPELLATIONS: Howell Mountain.

SUB APPELLATIONS: La Jota Vineyard. 

PRACTICES: Vegan Friendly.

RATINGS:

• 2018 La Jota Vineyard Co. Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, 97 points, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, LPB (Jan 21)
• 2018 La Jota Vineyard Co. Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, 96 points, JamesSuckling.com, JS (Mar 21)
• 2016 La Jota Vineyard Co. Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, 97+ points, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, LPB (Oct 18)
• 2016 La Jota Vineyard Co. Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, 97 points & Cellar Selection, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, VB (Apr 20)
• 2015 La Jota Vineyard Co. Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, 95 points & Cellar Selection, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, VB (Dec 18)
• 2015 La Jota Vineyard Co. Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, 95+ points, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, LPB (Dec 17)