1992 La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Selection

The just-released 1992s from La Jota are stunning. The 1992 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain Selection is a broad-shouldered, intensely-flavored, full-bodied wine with gobs of blackcurrant fruit gently infused with subtle new oak. It possesses the opulence and density of the 1992 vintage, and can be drunk now or over the next 20 years. La Jota's twenty acres of vineyards situated high up on Howell Mountain behind the small village of Angwin has consistently proven to be a superb source for red wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. That production has been recently supplemented by a good Viognier, a frequently superb Petite Sirah (made from purchased grapes from Dunn's Park-Muscatine Vineyard), and most recently an impressively rich Chardonnay and two Pinot Noirs from Sonoma. Like a number of California's wineries, La Jota has had four great vintages in a row, not including 1994, a year that many are calling the vintage of the century for Napa Cabernet. Tel. (707) 965-3020; Fax (707) 965-0324.