1993 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon

The 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain reveals an opaque black color, huge tannin, terrific purity, and density, a broad, heavyweight mouthfeel, and gobs of ripe tannin. It is a massive Cabernet Sauvignon that requires a decade of cellaring - at the minimum. The last three vintages (1993, 1994 and 1995) offer fabulous promise. They are black/purple-colored wines, with similar levels of sweet, cassis, mineral-tinged fruit, full body, and blockbuster levels of extract and tannin. Both the 1994s and 1995s are still in barrel. What I tasted represented what Randy Dunn believed would be the final blend. This is one winery where the 1995s may turn out to be a point or two superior to the 1994s. The 1995's super-sweet richness is even more intense than the fabulous concentration and extract of the 1994s. This is also another producer who turned out outstanding 1993s, a vintage that has received some unjustifiably tough press from West Coast wine critics. Perhaps the question that needs to be raised by potential buyers of these wines is just how much patience they are willing to invest in Dunn's Cabernets. It is no crime to drink them young, since they are well-balanced, and the fruit is ripe, concentrated, and sweet. However, my experience has shown that these wines do not begin to develop secondary aromas for at least a dozen years. Randy Dunn achieves this through top-notch viticultural practices and yields that are rarely more than two tons per acre. These are classic, very long-lived, mountain Cabernet Sauvignons meant to survive four to five decades of cellaring. Tel. (707) 965-3642; Fax (707) 965-3805

The 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain reveals an opaque black color, huge tannin, terrific purity, and density, a broad, heavyweight mouthfeel, and gobs of ripe tannin. It is a massive Cabernet Sauvignon that requires a decade of cellaring - at the minimum. Dec 1996, www.robertparker.com