Ladera Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon with Beef Roast Dinner
Linda prepared a beef roast with roasted potatoes and haricot verts, and I pulled from the cellar this Howell Mountain Cabernet for an ideal food and wine pairing.
The Howell Mountain vineyard was considered from the very beginning to be a little piece of France, and was named Nouveau Medoc Vineyard by the men who founded it. Jean Brun, a native of Bordeaux, and W.J. Chaix, whom he met in Napa, first planted 20 acres of Medoc grapes on Howell Mountain in 1877— among the first to plant vineyards up on Howell Mountain instead of down on the Napa Valley floor.
We'd driven past the historic formerly Chateau Woltner property many times over the years on our treks up Howell Mountain.
The estate vineyards atop Howell Mountain are nestled around the ruins of the ancient stone winery with it’s 30-inch-thick walls, restored into the main winery building at Ladera. The fabulous historic building consists of production and barrel storage below and a rustic tasting room upstairs. It is surrounded by spectacular gardens, beds of lavender, and of course the vineyards. The structure was built entirely of hard, durable stone, three stories in height, roofed with shingles, and was partly dug into the side of the sloping hill to provide access by wagons or teams to all three floors.
Ladera means “hillside” or “slope” in Spanish, and in this single word you will find captured the essence of Ladera’s wines. The word “ladera” describes and unites both of these sites, characterized as they are by the steep slopes and dynamic micro-climates that make mountainside vineyards so special.
Each of their mountain vineyards were tucked in folds and creases of the mountains accessible only by the by tormenting winding roads far from the valley’s main highway corridor. The mountain winegrowing regions
of Napa find cooler breezes and longer sun exposure days with restrained soils and well drained slopes that result in rich concentrated fruit.
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| Rick with Ladera owner/producer Anne Stotesbery |
The seeds for Ladera were planted in the early 1970s, when Pat and Anne Stotesbery
fell in love while attending university in Northern California. Among
their many shared interests, they discovered a passion for wine, and
were soon taking wine classes together, and traveling to wine country
for tastings.
The next two decades took them to Minnesota and Montana, where they ran a
3,200-acre ranch with 750 head of cattle, during which time, their interest in wine continued to grow.
With deep agricultural roots on both sides of their family, Pat and Anne Stotesbery acquired
their first Napa Valley mountain vineyard in 1996. Their original vineyard was on Mount
Veeder, the following year
they purchased their second mountain vineyard, Lone Canyon.
In 1998, Pat and Anne made their first non-commercial vintage of 100 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Stotesberys hired winemaker Karen Culler (formerly of Vichon winery, and her own label Culler Wines),
and along with their vineyard manager Gabriel Reyes practice the sort of
winegrowing and winemaking you might expect of a small family-run
operation that makes about 12,000 cases of wine each year.
Around 2008, their son Dan visited us while on a wine promotion trip and
we took him around to several of the local wine merchants in the area.
In 2016, following the earlier sales of the Lone Canyon and the Mount
Veeder properties, with their children grown and pursuing careers of their own, Pat and
Anne sold their land on Howell Mountain.
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| Rustic Ladera tasting area in the historic chai and barrel building back in 2006. |
Ladera Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
This bottle from our cellar is from the Howell Mountain vineyard located at an elevation of 1600 to 1800 feet, high above the Napa Valley floor, with gently rolling terrain. The soils are iron-rich, red, clay loam soils with an abundance of gravel for excellent drainage. At this elevation, the climate is very different from the valley floor.
The fog line, at 1200 feet, is the demarcation point between what is designated as Napa Valley and Howell Mountain wines. Above the fog line in the summer, the grapes receive sun for a longer duration during the day and the temperatures are cooler in the day and warmer at night than the valley floor. The longer sun exposure and warmer nights allow Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen, resulting in wines that tend to be soft and elegant, with a finesse reminiscent of wines from Bordeaux.
This is the first of this vintage Howell Mountain Cabernet we've tasted and it is by far the best, being fuller, more concentrated and rounded than the others. It was a perfect complement to the roast beef dinner.
At eighteen years, this is likely at the apex of its drinking window, not likely to improve with further age, but should drink well for several more years to come.
The fill level, label, foil, and most importantly, the cork, were pristine, having been harbored in our cellar since acquisition.
About 2000 cases of this wine were made.
Dark garnet colored, complex and concentrated blackberry fruits with notes of cassis, licorice, vanilla, bitter chocolate and cedar, turning to full dusty tannins on the long bold finish.
RM 93 points.
https://www.laderavineyards.com/
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