2013 La Jota Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

Community Tasting Notes (41) Avg Score: 92.2 points

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  9/23/2023 - Bob23 Likes this wine: 95 Points

  An excellent bottle of mountain Napa cab - lots of sediment, so definitely decant. Great structure (distinct without being overwhelming) and rich but not jammy dark fruit, a serious bottle.

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  6/9/2023 - Tarpon222 wrote:

  Ballybunion

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  4/2/2023 - hhyder Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Okay, this wine surprised me. The nose was a typical Howell Mountain cab with some deep, brooding fruit. However, upon tasting it, I was expecting a still very structured wine since it was a 2013 but the tannins were fully resolved and it was more elegant than bruising. This would be a tough wine to pick out in a blind taste but it drank nicely.

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  5/3/2022 - Hi.its.Don.4.Wine Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Double My Pleasure, Double My Fun
  
  Have I mentioned I love sales (aka cheap)? I think so. Anyway, as I scanned the items on sale at my local Whole Foods the other day, low and behold, I see that they have beef tenderloin on sale! I know I’ve mentioned how much I love that particular morsel of food.
  
  Like any good saver (aka frugal), I had to purchase a particularly well-marbled filet during my visit to retrieve my weekly groceries. Likewise, a great piece of meat requires a great wine. That brings us to today’s wine:
  
  La Jota Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
  
  In most cases, the single shopping event per week would stop there, BUT, the ignominious draw of that economically priced piece of beef was more than I could stomach (nice choice of words since that is where it would end up).
  
  So back I go to Whole Foods a couple of days later to partake of another piece of tenderloin with that intramuscular fat strewn through it so delicately.
  
  What worked ever so well was that since I only drank half of the bottle of wine with my first meat-crazed obsession, I still had wine enough for the second as well (thank you Coravin).
  
  As part of the Jackson Family Wines, there is a commitment to sustainability and to what they call regenerative farming by 2030; farming and ranching in harmony with nature. Under the watchful eyes of winemaker Chris Carpenter, who does such a fabulous job at Cardinale and Lokoya, and once again devoting myself to drinking one of my many 2013 Napa Cabs, this wine kept pace with and excelled in culminating my beef obsession and my thrifty (aka penny-pinching) ways, at least as far as food goes. The wine…..not so much, but I bought this back when I was young and carefree, well carefree.
  
  Beautiful aromas emanated as I set about to decant the wine the first of two times. The blending of all five Bordeaux varieties: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot and Malbec, were instrumental in creating this wine of depth and intensity beginning with big lush fruit of cassis and blueberry notes, only a slight rustic quality and well-balanced acidity and softer tannins that led to a spice-note finish. In my attempts to educate why decanting can be an important step, I did notice that the first sip before the 2 hour decant seemed to suggest a cola note. That disappeared over time.
  
  The wine has many years ahead, so keep in mind that it will take a long time to soften the fruit as Cabs from 2013 were bruisers; decanting is a must should you open one a little sooner. Fear not should 2013s not be around, for more recent vintages have performed equally well. Find a bottle and see if you can “double your pleasure, double your fun.” Oh, and all due respect to Wrigley Doublemint gum.
  
  Cheers

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  4/16/2022 - Scar510 Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Buccan. It was ok. kinda flat.

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