2008 Howell Mountain Merlot

The Vineyards

Our Howell Mountain Merlot comes from two vineyards located high upon a Howell Mountain plateau overlooking Napa Valley. Our La Jota vineyard estate is a unique spot surrounded by pines, firs, oak and madrone trees, with a cool, windy climate and lean volcanic soils. These estate grapes, selected from our Meadow Blocks, provide the wine with a serious cocoa/chocolate element. Our Keyes Vineyard, a mile down the road and with a very different terroir, provides our Merlot with a "pop" of bright fruit character and broader tannins. La Jota gets more fog, while Keyes tallies more sunshine hours, which accounts for the different vineyard personalities.

Winemaking

We hand-harvested the grapes into small, 30-pound boxes to prevent crushing, and then brought them to our winery for hand sorting. After destemming and light crushing, the must was cold soaked for gentle color, flavor and tannin extraction. To bridle the "mountain tannins", Winemaker Christopher Carpenter added small amounts of oxygen with three "splashing pump-overs" a day during the primary fermentation in stainless steel tanks. In-barrel malolactic fermentation rounded the acidity and softly integrated the vanillin character of the new French oak barrels. To further enhance the wine's elegance, we racked the wine five times during its 22 months of barrel aging.

Current Tasting Notes

"The 2008 Howell Mountain Merlot is bursting with chocolate, creamy tannins, and blackberry, with a full mouth range of tannins."