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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 89.6 pts. and median of 89 pts. in 21 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by DesMarteau on 12/12/2020 & rated 93 points: very fruit forward and barely aged at 16. supple blueberries, cherry, raspberry...integrated with the raspberry a bit over sharp in the mid palate. not much in terms of tannic backbone or structure....will age much longer and like most Howell Mountains....I think will go 20-30 years. This bottle is alignment with that timeline. (618 views) | | | Tasted by Adventr.us on 10/30/2015 & rated 90 points: Nice. A mouthful of fruit upfront, smooth but noticeable tannin on the finish, everything well integrated. Seems to be opening up on the mid-palate with some more air. No bricking, no fading, sure seems like it'd hold a while, though there's nothing going on in my first glass to suggest it's going to get better either. (1559 views) | | | Tasted by ssnyder2323 on 5/1/2011 & rated 90 points: Decanted for 90 minutes before drinking. The nose was a blast of red fruit. After 90 minutes, the tannins were upfront and the wine was a bit disjointed. By the last glass, the wine was very well integrated. Will buy more to hold for a few more years. Good effort. (4464 views) | | | Tasted by rben_mvp on 12/4/2010 & rated 87 points: just okay for me, there are much better wines at better value out there. (4255 views) | | | Tasted by rmodak on 9/30/2010 & rated 89 points: I liked this quite a bit. Classic cassis, smoke, menthol with a hint of green olive. Mineral tinged, the fruit is dark and sweet, but not overextracted, while tannins are medium. Drink now and over the next 3-5 years. (4380 views) | | | Tasted by CdP in NYC on 9/15/2010 & rated 88 points: Fairly consistent with prior notes, but this time I'm noticing there's actually quite a bit of citrus in the mouth. Pretty unusual. This isn't my typical style of wine, but I really like this stuff. (4197 views) | | | Tasted by CdP in NYC on 9/2/2010 & rated 86 points: Double Blind Cabernet Tasting; 8/31/2010-9/2/2010 (NYC): Update: 50% filled, fully recorked, and cracked back open on day three. This had totally fallen apart and oxidized. Doesn't have the structure to go for the long run. Good enough wine on opening. However, many who purchase this wine b/c it's a "Howell Mountain" will be disappointed. I'll have to bump this down a few points. Certainly not a wise purchase at its price point.
Drink now. 86 -JRS (3905 views) | | | Tasted by CdP in NYC on 8/31/2010 & rated 88 points: Double Blind Cabernet Tasting; 8/31/2010-9/2/2010 (NYC): Nose of plum, sweet raspberries and vanilla oak. Hits the palate the same, but a bit candied, with less oak. Pretty nice balance overall with good acidity cutting through a somewhat creamy mouthfeel. Medium finish. A very good wine, but not outstanding.
Drink now. 88 -JRS (2854 views) | | | Tasted by NDrulz on 9/5/2009 & rated 88 points: Good, a little too fruity (3333 views) | | | Tasted by bigdomer on 2/15/2009 & rated 88 points: I prefer bigger/bolder Howell Mtn efforts. I have tasted both the 2004 and 2005 in recent weeks and just don't think this winemaker's style fits my palate. It is very good, but many will prefer stronger tannins, a bit more oak, etc. (2787 views) | | | Tasted by trankin on 10/12/2008 & rated 90 points: Nice Napa cab. Full and reasonably round without being overextracted or overoaked. Nose of purple fruits with slight alcohol behind. Acidic dark fruits with a touch of strawberry. While young, I'm not sure this will really improve with time. (3246 views) | | | Tasted by pjhr on 9/1/2008 & rated 91 points: As tasty as the last bottle! (2798 views) | | | Tasted by Rob MacKay on 4/4/2008: Last time we had this was about 8 months ago. This bottle was not as disjointed as the last one was at the start and didn't need all that extra time to sort itself out. It appears to have done that quite well while resting for the last 8 months. Great stuff and a great value for Howell Mountain juice. (3191 views) | | | Tasted by cadamson on 1/13/2008 & rated 92 points: Did not have super expectations. Turns out to be a great QPR for Howell Mountain. Really good and enjoyable. Dark red, red fruit, olive and cedar on the nose... best though is in the mouth, great fruit (not jammy), sort of 'sweet' in a way. Good finish, strawberry, raspberry, cocoa. yummy. Beats many 3x the price. (3173 views) | | | Tasted by Rob MacKay on 7/30/2007 & rated 93 points: I am always amazed by the ability of a good wine to transform itself over a really short period of time. We opened this bottle and poured ourselves a glass each and let it come up to temperature for about 30 mins. The nose showed a lot of ripe red fruits and berries with a touch of pine needles. Initially the acidity seemed a little high and the wine was a little disjointed and backwards but still pretty good. I left it out overnight and the transformation was quite amazing. Flavors all balanced out and came together to make a wonderful, well balanced wine. An amazing value for a Howell Mountain Cab. This is a great effort from Bill Smith, who is currently much better known for his fleet of WH Smith pinots. (3458 views) | | | Tasted by pjhr on 3/14/2007 & rated 91 points: Pleasant dark plum and cherry aromas and flavors with floral and oaky notes. Delicious chewy tannins on the finish. Enjoyed this one!. Has more upside potential than the 2003. (3398 views) |
| W.H. Smith Producer website
We’ve gone or come a long way!
Bill purchased the old ghost winery, La Jota Vineyard Co. in 1974 and here we are 39 years later…
Bill and Joan look back and wonder where did the years go, so many wonderful experiences and so much has changed in the wine business. In 1974 the Napa Valley had few wineries and there was no traffic to contend with! The winery owners and winemakers knew one another, there weren’t many to know.
The Smith’s resurrected the La Jota winery and planted Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Zinfandel. The first vintage was 1982, and the price was $14 a bottle and that was expensive! The production grew to 4000 cases and the winery sold in 2001 to Markham Vineyards and it is now owned by Kendall Jackson.
Bill and Joan moved down the road and began a new winery. An underground cave of 4,500 square feet. They have 7 acres planted in the Bordeaux varietals from which they produce 700 to 1000 cases of two different Cabernets. The Purple Label is their top tier Cabernet. Both the Bronze and Purple have richness and depth. Both wines are made the same except the Purple gets new French oak.
Pinot Noir is a favorite varietal and Bill looks to cool growing vineyards in the Sonoma Coast appellation when selecting fruit. They produce 4 to 5 Pinot Noirs and each are distinct.
The goal of the Smith’s is to produce wines that are less tannic and drinkable earlier.
Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Howell Mountain Howell Mountain |
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