posted 02-29-2012 11:45 AM            

How many of you have been up on Howell Mountain to visit the wineries up there. Some of the most fantastic Cabs I have found in Napa reside high above the valley floor. I ran across this website for information and maps of the Howell Mountain Vintner's Group. Here is the Home page http://www.howellmountain.org/index.html

I dug further and found this .pdf map of HM on the website at
http://www.howellmountain.org/images/HMVGMap.pdf

We have personally been to Black Sears (great Cab and excellent Zin) and Outpost (great Cab) both Thomas Rivers Brown wineries and where he makes the wines for several of his clients including his own Rivers-Marie label.

We have also been to O'Shaughnessy. This one is a little tricky to find, but it can be done and is WELL WORTH the trip. They released their two 2008 Cabs with a 94 and 98 rating by Robert Parker.

Either Outpost or O'Shaughnessy would make an excellent spot for a picnic lunch with views from their picnic areas.

We also tasted at Arkenstone which was probably our least favorite. The owner poured our tasting and as soon as she found out that we were only going to purchase two bottles, could not wait to get rid of us.

We have also been to Ladera and they have some Cabs very much worth tasting.

Just off the HM map to the south on Deer Park is Burgess, another excellent Cab house

If you haven't visited this appellation, it is very much worth the trip. If you have tasted or do taste in the future any of the other wineries on the map, please let me know how you liked them. Bottoms up!