Favorite Howell Mountain Tastings

[MikeS1]

I’m headed to Napa in March as well. I always try to schedule a Howell mountain day.

My favorite is visit is Haber Family- Ron and SueMarie are awesome hosts. Lamborn is great, but don’t know if Mike is still inviting guests since he put the winery up for sale. Tom at Red Cap serves this great home baked bread with his wine tasting. Love Spence wines, but heard they weren’t having visitors since Covid. Jon at Paravel wines is also a great host- he used to be winemaker and guitar player at Lava Vine before Von Strasser took over.

I also recommend Aonair and Neal. Viader has a beautiful property and Cave tour but prices and tasting fees are pretty steep. Burgess used to be a relatively inexpensive visit, but they moved down to Silverado trail and jacked up the fees. Had a so- so experience at Cimarossa. Last tasted at Dunn about 3 years ago with Kara Dunn- it was really a Retro Vineyard tasting, which is their second label. The Retro wines are decent. Heard good things about Summit Lake, but haven’t been there personally.

[Brian_Lynch]

I’ll be the third to recommend Red Cap. Tom is great fun and the wines are excellent. I buy a case and find they usually don’t last very long.

[lleichtman]

No idea what the Lamborns are up to lately (think they sold?), but I have fond memories of tasting wine on the deck. Black Sears, also not sure if they are still operating, but we would take a deli lunch with us and taste wine at their picnic table in the vineyard.

Or, one could just go to the “Taste of Howell Mountain” annual event. It’s a good time. Typically in June each year.

Black Sears is still in operation.

They damn well better be or my wife will go up there and murder them. It is her personal project and her favorite wine. It would be one of our top five producers but for the fact that she keeps drinking it.

Chris Jambois with wine and helmet.jpg

Kinda shamanesque photo. No buffalo robe?

[Max_S1]

Might try Spring Mountain as well. Pretty close and Pride does a good tasting.

How good is the Pride tasting/view? I’ve reached out a couple times with no response and read a couple of iffy reviews.

[Sean_Devaney]

Might try Spring Mountain as well. Pretty close and Pride does a good tasting.

How good is the Pride tasting/view? I’ve reached out a couple times with no response and read a couple of iffy reviews.

Pride is across the valley at the top of Spring Mountain and their vineyard actually straddle the Napa/Sonoma border. Seems like a looong way to to go for a second tasting when you already have lots of options on HM. I have never made the trip myself FWIW.

[T_Welch]

The drive from Angwin to Pride is about a half hour.

[SeanD]

Glad to see Black Sears getting kudos. We visited in October. Very old-school Napa in the best sense. Great views & really enjoyed the wines. Chris is a great host.
In case it hasn’t been mentioned, Seavey is excellent. Beautiful property & IMHO one of the most underrated (and fairly priced) wines in Napa.

[K_Kladder]

Might try Spring Mountain as well. Pretty close and Pride does a good tasting.

How good is the Pride tasting/view? I’ve reached out a couple times with no response and read a couple of iffy reviews.

Pride was one of the best tastings on our last visit. Very informative, beautiful views, wines were great. I think we tasted about 9 different wines.

[Jim_F]

Pride is indeed a fun tasting, and indeed a haul from HM. The wines are good, but back to the OP, they are not “HM” wines.

[Sean_T]

Might try Spring Mountain as well. Pretty close and Pride does a good tasting.

How good is the Pride tasting/view? I’ve reached out a couple times with no response and read a couple of iffy reviews.

I tasted at Pride in November. The view was great, wines were good. We did the standard estate tasting of current release. Our host (Quique) was very knowledgable and would geek out as much as or as little as you wanted. Their wines need a little time so I would opt for their reserve tasting next time to get a crack at trying some library stuff. But as someone else noted, it’s a trek, so best to plan on tasting there when you are tasting at places closer in the area.

[Ju1ian_Dev1in]

Pride is indeed a fun tasting, and indeed a haul from HM. The wines are good, but back to the OP, they are not “HM” wines.

Yeah - not to diverge too much but there is a Howell connection here - Has anyone tasted at Lokoya? (near Pride on Spring Mountain) … they have a Howell Mt cab as well as Spring Mt, Mount Veeder, Diamond Mt. I thought tasting these side by side could be really interesting.

[Jim_F]

Pride is indeed a fun tasting, and indeed a haul from HM. The wines are good, but back to the OP, they are not “HM” wines.

Yeah - not to diverge too much but there is a Howell connection here - Has anyone tasted at Lokoya? (near Pride on Spring Mountain) … they have a Howell Mt cab as well as Spring Mt, Mount Veeder, Diamond Mt. I thought tasting these side by side could be really interesting.

That would indeed be a fun and interesting tasting.

[Abbie_S]

Glad to see Black Sears getting kudos. We visited in October. Very old-school Napa in the best sense. Great views & really enjoyed the wines. Chris is a great host.
In case it hasn’t been mentioned, Seavey is excellent. Beautiful property & IMHO one of the most underrated (and fairly priced) wines in Napa.

We had a fantastic tasting at Seavey a couple of weeks ago. Love their Cabs, and as mentioned, their prices are very fair. The tasting included some library wines (2012, 2014, 2016), which was a nice surprise. Another host had opened a 2005 Cab for another group, so we were able to try that one, as well.
Highly recommend!

[T_Welch]

Seavey is wonderful but, to clarify, is not part of the Howell Mountain appellation.

[Josh_Grossman]

Cimarossa Wines was an awesome visit. I’ve been dropping lists like mad–but first wine club I’ve joined in some time. The only way to their tasting room was an ATV:

[Max_S1]

You really had to make me regret not doing Cimarossa