The Vaca and Mayacamas mountains that line the sides of Napa Valley produce some of the region’s most distinctive bottlings. Case in point is Dunn Vineyards. Randy Dunn, who started making wine in 1975 at Caymus, pitched his own tent atop Howell Mountain in 1979, which at the time was Napa’s viticultural Siberia. Time has proven him more than prescient. Randy’s son Mike, who joined in 1999, handles the winemaking. Randy still calls the pick date in the vineyards on the Howell Mountain estate, which totals 40 contiguous acres. The Dunn Cabernet remains one of Napa Valley’s longest-lived wines for the cellar. After a 32-month elevage, the wine is densely fruited with grippy tannins, but polished and pure at the same time.

Lushly fruited, this sends waves of crushed plum, boysenberry compote and blackberry paste out from the core, with a strong undercurrent of cast iron and smoldering tobacco to boot. Grippy and dense, but with a sense of polish and a note of purity in the guise of a pretty violet echo. Best from 2025 through 2040.

Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023 #6

Winemaker: Randy Dunn

Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon

Region: Howell Mountain, Napa Valley, California

6 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023