This feels dramatic from the start. It’s silky and refined in texture, with brisk acidity and a bite of tannic astringency. It shows a rich core of cherry, cola and sandalwood flavors. This should hang in there over the next five years.

Smooth and meaty with ripe cherry and juicy acidity; dense and rich with notes of earth and minerals; long and balanced.

The glass-staining purple hue shows off the power of fruit, though for now it stnds behind a wall of toasted, caramelized oak. Jammy and tough, this mountain cabernet is a rough black wine that needs plenty of time to resolve.

is dominated by minerals and wet stones intertwined with blackberry and cassis flavors.

Rich tarry blackcurrant nose, dense and imposing. Truckloads of high-quality oak and powerful black fruit with a textured earthiness. A touch extracted, but there's persuasive fruit here and a long, robust finish. Needs time before it's truly ready.

Rich tarry black currant nose, dense and imposing. Truckloads of high-quality oak and powerful black fruit with a textured earthiness. A touch extracted, but there's persuasive fruit here and a long, robust finish.

Good full ruby. Spicy aromas of currant, brown spices, lavender and tobacco, along with a whiff of dill. Sweet and creamy yet at the same time penetrating, with a juicy quality to the currant and tobacco flavors. Boasts an attractive tangy intensity and finishes with rather suave tannins for a Howell Mountain wine.

Toasty, creamy and lush with ripe, smoky oak flavors and lots of honey and butterscotch.

For example, the 1995 Chardonnay (900 cases) was made with 100% native yeast fermentation, put through full malolactic fermentation, completely barrel fermented, and aged in 75% new oak for nearly 18 months, and bottled without filtration. There was considerable stirring of the lees to encourage greater complexity and richness. It is an impressive, young, Burgundian-styled Chardonnay with a smoky, hazelnut, buttery popcorn, honeyed pineapple-scented nose and flavors, full body, great purity and ripeness, and a long, lusty finish. It could easily stand up to just about any Batard-Montrachet made in France, although I doubt it will be long-lived. Drink it over the next 2-3 years.

The 1995 Chardonnay offers a Burgundian-like earthy, mineral personality, with smoked hazelnut, rich, buttery popcorn, and tropical fruit scents. The wine is medium to full-bodied, rich, and well-delineated by zesty acidity in addition to the influence of high quality French barrels.

Tangy grapefruit and gooseberry flavors make this new wine from Jackson Family Estates lively, fresh and palate-cleansing. It has medium body, good concentration and bracing acidity.

This is a new line of label-driven wine meant to be adventurous and whimsical. Catchy label aside, the wine inside entirely delivers in well-integrated fruit and floral characteristics, showing the crispness of its stainless-steel fermentation. Tangy, it’s both tart and tropical, finishing focused and lean.

The 2015 Merlot is gorgeous. Succulent dark cherry and plum fruit make a strong first impression. Mocha, new leather, lavender and spice add layers of flavor and aromatic nuance to this very pretty, racy Merlot from La Jota. A dollop of Petit Verdot adds character.

This opaque and very dark ruby colored Merlot opens with a fragrant black cherry and blackberry bouquet with hints of wintergreen and red licorice. On the palate, this wine is full bodied and balanced. The flavor profile is a chalky mineral infused blackberry with notes of black cherry. We also detected hints of red plum and coffee. The finish is dry and its rather dusty tannins stick around for a while. Despite its big tannins, we do suggest drinking this Merlot in the near term. We would decant it for an hour and serve it with a pot roast.

Good bright medium red. Musky, perfumed aromas of dark berries, pine needles, coffee, herbs and brown spices. Sweet and fine-grained but juicy too, with lovely floral lift to the red berry and spice flavors. Penetrating acidity extends the finish and gives it lift.

The 2007 Merlot (99% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon) is unquestionably a sleeper of the vintage. Lots of chocolate, cocoa, black cherry, earth, and subtle herbs make for a creamy, lush, full-bodied, sexy wine that is ideal for drinking over the next 7-8 years.

Add La Jota to the ranks of those producing ageworthy Merlot. This wine, for all of its dense and suggested fruitiness, reveals itself in layers as its tannins and bright acidity get peeled away. Our impressions are less about a long list of adjectives, although we certainly find ripe cherries, sweet soil influences and creamy oak, and more about textures and continuity and the sense that the wine builds and builds towards the finish.

The 2014 Cabernet Franc is surprisingly open and radiant, with plenty of varietal aromatic and flavor nuance. Tobacco, sweet herbs, leather and mocha all add considerable shades of dimension. Ripe, sweet tannins give the 2014 much of its immediacy. I expect the 2014 will drink well pretty much upon release.

Cabernet Franc has done well on Howell Mountain, and the 2013 Cabernet Franc (485 cases) is a beauty. It is 100% Cabernet Franc aged in 60% new French oak. Gorgeous floral notes intermixed with brambleberry and blueberry, with a hint of dark raspberry and chocolate are all present in this relatively full-bodied, fleshy Cabernet Franc. Its softness and up-front complexity already suggest drinking now and over the next decade or more.

A rich, ample wine, the 2012 Cabernet Franc is all about texture. Dark red and black fruit, smoke, incense and spices meld together in the glass. The style is rich, racy and voluptuous, with tons of immediacy and near-term appeal. The 2012 is 100% Cabernet Franc from the La Jota and Keyes vineyards on Howell Mountain.

La Jota's 2010 Cabernet Franc wraps around the palate with dark red berries, flowers, licorice and new leather. There is no shortage of character in this deep, old-vine Cabernet Franc. Layers of fruit build to the rich, intense finish. Cabernet Franc is rarely seen on its own, but here it works nicely.

A big, vital, dramatic wine, one of the finest Cab Francs of the vintage. Dazzles with blackberry, black cherry, mocha and spice flavors, wrapped into thick but finely ground tannins, and enriched with smoky oak. Beautiful now and for the next 4-5 years.

A nose of blueberry jam, menthol, dark cherry, spice box and chocolate. The palate is a firm, spiced black plum, polished and ripe blackberry. Firm tannins.

This pitch black colored Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain is very Bordeaux like in style. It opens with a mild black olive bouquet with hints of vanilla, oak and eucalyptus. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied and balanced. The flavor profile is an oak influenced black olive with notes of blackberry and black pepper. The Panel also detected a hint of black currant mixed in as well. The finish is dry and its dusty tannins drift away nicely. The Panel suggested pairing this Cab with a veal chop or lamb burger. Very good+.

The 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is a blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot aged in 90% new French oak. Winemaker Christopher Carpenter, who is resurrecting this estate to its glory days of the early nineties, has hit pay dirt with this 2011. More charming than one normally expects of a Howell Mountain Cabernet, it possesses sweet tannin, low acidity, and lots of blueberry and black currant fruit intermixed with licorice, underbrush and foresty notes. Medium-bodied and approachable, this endearing 2011 is best drunk over the next decade.