The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is also brilliant and is a fabulous value that should be snatched up by readers. Sporting an inky purple color, it has a textbook Howell Mountain nose of gamey blue fruits, pine forest, savory herbs, iron, and crushed rock. With fabulous concentration, a pure, seamless texture, serious amounts of ripe tannins, and a blockbuster finish, this is one classy Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon that will benefit from 4-5 years (it can be drunk today) and will keep for 2-3 decades. The blend is 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, 5% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Saint Macaire, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Carmenere, all brought up in 80% new French oak.

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is composed of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, 5% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Saint Macaire, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Carménère. Deep garnet-purple colored, it has provocative notes of baked blackberries, stewed plums and crème de cassis with earthy/savory hints of fertile loam, chargrill, wood smoke and new leather plus a touch of sautéed herbs. Full-bodied with fantastic concentration and bags of savory layers, it has a rock-solid line of grainy tannins and a compelling herbal lift on the finish.

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon (Howell Mountain) is inky, deep and explosive Cedar, tobacco and grilled herbs add striking savory nuance to this decidedly unctuous, potent Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. There is more than enough Howell structure to give the wine shape and a sense of direction.