Outpost Wines

California

Outpost True Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Howell Mountain

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Palate

The minerality and floral components from
the past several years are there even as the fruit elements continue to darken
in the wine.

Growing Conditions

Outpost was established in 1998 with the vision of producing wines that are a living, breathing embodiment of this magical place. Truly one of the world’s great Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel growing regions, the unique terroir of the Outpost vineyards – the hard, rocky red soil, high altitude, gentle cooling breezes and sunny western exposure – produces fruit of incredible intensity and richness, with a distinctive spice you simply cannot find anywhere else.

Capturing the essence of the land’s rugged terrain, Outpost creates world-class 100% varietal bottlings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Grenache from our own hand-cultivated, organically farmed 28 acre estate vineyard. We also produce a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and ‘Immigrant’ red blend, a combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, from our 9 acre True vineyard.

Coming on the heels of a drought year followed by a second dry winter,
True got off to an early spring bud-break. Unlike ’08 though, the frost
season was largely uneventful and we set our first “normal” crop since 2006.
The early start turned out to be a blessing as we were able to harvest at our
leisure well before the October 12th storm. As rugged a site as this is there’s
always plushness in the finished wine that sets it apart from all other Howell
Mountain wines we have tried. This remains the most unique wine produced at the winery
every year and a worthy successor to the great 2007 and 2008 editions.

Winemaking

Outpost grapes are harvested late in the season – by hand, at dawn – to preserve the full intensity and distinctive spicy character of the mountain fruit. The grapes are processed with as little manipulation as possible. Grapes from each block within the vineyard are fermented separately so that our winemaking team can be very selective about the lots that comprise the final blend. Wines are neither fined nor filtered allowing for the full expression of the vintages’ potential.