Palate
Always a Château Latour inspired wine, with restraint yet substance as well as layered richness, a creamy opulent texture, nicely integrated tannins and delicious briary mountain fruit of blackberry and blueberry mixed with sensational notes of graphite and crushed rocks. This wine needs a good 5-6 years of cellaring and should age for three decades at minimum.
Growing Conditions
Our Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are sourced from a few very select vineyards sites on top of the mountain at an altitude of about 1800 feet.
Harvest
After a long hang-time, we harvested late October and early November and sorted the grapes on our state-of-the-art sorting tables with a crew of fourteen, before going into tank. All handpicked
on October 22, 27, 28 and November 3, 2010, and carried to the winery in our 35 lb picking bins.
Bottling
No fining or filtering prior to bottling as we wish to preserve all the fine nuances the wine has to offer.
Winemaking
The must was cold soaked using lots of dry ice in addition to the cold glycol system to keep
the must around 35 to 40°F for about 7 days, before the alcoholic fermentation starts. An
extended maceration of 6 to 8 weeks is common practice for us, and we taste each tank on a
daily basis until we decide to drain the wine in 100 % French oak barrels specially designed
for our wine. The malolactic fermentation took place in barrels.
Aging
Aged 22 months in 100 % new French oak barrels
Appearance
The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon is dark and intense with its purple color.
Food Pairing
We enjoy duck breast on the grill with our Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. A
succulent steak is an obvious choice too. Traditional French recipes like Beef Burgundy or
Coq au Vin are regular dishes on our table and they do pair wonderfully with Cabernet
Sauvignon. Hard cheese like Comté, Gouda or Manchego with a more cellared vintage is
also a great pairing.
