Skip to main content

Buy any 6 Bottles and get Free Ground Shipping

Cresta Velia Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 2016  - First Bottle

Reviews

96 Jeb Dunnuck -
A small step up in price, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain offers classic Howell Mountain blue and black fruits as well as notes of sage brush, mint, and spice. It’s full-bodied, has a complex, intense bouquet, loads of ripe fruit, and the purity of fruit that makes this vintage so compelling. Drink it any time over the coming 15+ years.
92-94 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate -
A barrel sample, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon sports a deep garnet-purple color and notes of blueberry preserves, black cherries and plums with hints of licorice, tar and fragrant earth. Full-bodied, rich and voluptuous, it has plenty of pepper and spice notes and a chewy texture, finishing with great length.

Technical Details

  • BlendCabernet Sauvignon
  • CountryUS
  • RegionCalifornia North Coast
  • AppellationHowell Mountain, Napa Valley
  • VineyardEagle Summit
  • Aging/Cooperage100% percent French oak 90% new 10% used

Cresta Velia Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 2016

Cabernet Blends  |  US
JD96, WA92-94

Too late, we are SOLD OUT!
Thomas Rivers Brown protege taps a vineyard later purchased by Dunn to create this screamer of a Howell Mountain Cab. If you want under-the-radar Napa Cab that will over-deliver for the money, look no further. This gem from the slopes of the red and rocky volcanic soils of Howell Mountain is a total overachiever that left our staff arm-wrestling for the remnants of the bottle.

John Giannini has run the facility at Outpost on Howell Mountain since 2007, working his way through the ranks from a harvest intern to Cellar Master and then Assistant Winemaker under the tutelage of the one and only Thomas Rivers Brown. Thomas was in fact the one who encouraged John to go out on his own and start Cresta Velia.

Crafted at Outpost, the same facility that cranks out 100-pointers like a pair of sneakers, the 2016 Cresta Velia hails from a spectacular single vineyard site not far from the winery called Eagle Summit, which is perched near the highest reaches of the appellation at 2100 feet. With neighbors like Dunn, Robert Craig, Turley and Black Sears, this is a mighty fine neighborhood. The dirt here is so special that this vineyard was recently purchased by Randy Dunn in 2018! That makes a statement about what kind of quality is possible here. It is near impossible to find a wine with this kind of pedigree for under $100 these days!

Just 211 cases produced, we are beyond thrilled to have some to offer to you today. We like this so much we've included this in the new lineup of Kickass Napa Cabs Sampler to boot. First come, first served...

About the Producer

Like so many people who end up working in the wine industry, one can look back on a chance encounter or conversation that set the wheels of fate in motion. John Giannini met Thomas Brown through mutual friends while playing volleyball and it was Thomas who gave John his first job during harvest in the Napa Valley in 2003. In 2006, John became the Cellar Master at Outpost Winery in Angwin and in 2007 he took over as the Assistant Winemaker under Thomas. Since then, John has helped craft many of the 100 point wines that have come out of Outpost winemaking facility. And while he continues to be the Assistant Winemaker at Outpost, the next logical step was to become a winemaker in his own right; and so Cresta Velia was born.