2015 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - Ladera Vineyards

Crushed black currant, bay leaf, spiced blackberry. Damson plum, cigar smoke, bitter cacao. Fresh violet and blooming rose, pine wood and mild eucalyptus. Tart black raspberry, boysenberry, and black forest cherry glisten in deep darkness with remarkably pristine purity, initially coming off quite tight and brooding yet remaining impressively lean and elegant. Volcanic minerality boisterously washes in bringing tremendous earthy verve in the form of broken basalt and rust flakes. Rolling tobacco and cedar chest co-mingle with mint and red bell pepper in a show of gorgeous pyrazinic complexity benefited by brilliantly lifted floral overtones. Vanilla, clove, and cinnamon supplement flawlessly integrated barrel spice while black coffee gradually emerges showcasing tasteful toast. Fresh, regal, and classically styled; coarsing with elevated acidity and youthful pixelated tannin within a medium plus bodied frame. This 2015 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon by Ladera Vineyards is outstanding terroir-driven Napa beauty from the slopes of Howell Mountain.

Howell Mountain's high elevation vineyards laden with heavily volcanic soils produce some of Napa Valley's most powerful and structured wines, the best of which manage retain absolutely remarkable elegance. This bottling, crafted by Ladera Vineyards using the only best lots of their Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon fruit, is an impressive example of a sizable wine that still prioritizes restraint and subtlety. While delightfully modest in its initial presentation this wine absolutely blossoms with time in the glass, and does not rely on excess ripeness or oak to make a single one of its many statements. It is balanced, bright, and exceptionally authentic, telling of grape and place above all else. Howell Mountain can easily make the claim of being one of Napa's most profound terroir's and wines like this certainly support that proclamation. Spectacular.