O'Shaughnessy Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 2022

This structured and 'muscular' red wine originates from the United States, within the prestigious Howell Mountain A.A.V. (a sub-appellation of Napa Valley) in northern California. Founded in 1997 by Betty O'Shaughnessy and led by acclaimed winemaker Sean Capiaux, O'Shaughnessy Estate Winery is widely recognized as a benchmark producer of high-altitude mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Sourced from the estate's two distinct Howell Mountain vineyard sites Rancho del Oso and the Estate Vineyard—the vines sit above the fog line at elevations ranging between 1,600 and 1,800 feet. The vines are rooted in volcanic tufa, red clay, and gravelly iron-rich soils (ironstone). The intense mountain sunshine combined with cool daytime breezes produces exceptionally low yields of micro-sized berries, generating wines with formidable tannic architecture, deep fruit concentration, and a distinct line of crushed-rock minerality.

Wine Description

The 2022 O'Shaughnessy Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain presents an intense, opaque purple-black appearance in the glass with bright magenta shimmers along the rim. Its sensory profile is exceptionally bold, deep, and high-toned, offering a masterfully concentrated and complex expression of mountain terroir. The bouquet opens with a lavish display of crème de cassis, wild mountain blackberries, and black cherry reduction, seamlessly layered with complex underlays of crushed granite, dark cocoa, espresso bean, graphite, sweet pipe tobacco, dried sage, and a subtle touch of wild thyme. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, dense, and powerfully structured, showcasing a mouth-coating core of black fruits, dark chocolate, and licorice. It is characterized by its outstanding inner energy and an incisive, mouthwatering backbone of natural mountain acidity that elevates its massive extract. The mouthfeel is broad, muscular, and athletic, driven by firm, ripe, and fine-grained tannins that glide into an extraordinarily long, dry, and savory finish accented by persistent notes of iron, toasted oak spice, and crushed rock.