Wine Advisor
Lokoya, Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
One of two perfect wines ended my mini-tasting of the offerings from Lokoya in 2013. The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain from the Keyes Vineyard is an amazing wine. Thick purple in color with a stunning nose of lead pencil shavings, blackcurrants, mulberries and blackberries, the wine has a steely structure, yet enormous concentration, skyscraper-like mouth texture, and builds incrementally to a stunning finish of close to a minute. The purity, the richness, the overall equilibrium are unreal, but then this is Lokoya. Drink it over the next 30+ years.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is a fabulous expression of the Keyes vineyard. Plums, inky blue/purplish stone fruits, smoke, tar, licorice and graphite come alive in the glass. The 2013 is endowed with a real sense of verticality and power that manifests itself in the wine's huge tannins. Readers will have to be patient here.
About the Producer
Lokoya has long been one of leading wineries in the Kendall-Jackson Small Estates portfolio. Lokoya consistently produces some of the finest Cabernet Sauvignons from four of Napa Valley's most renowned mountain appellations: Mount Veeder, Howell Mountain, Diamond Mountain District, and Spring Mountain District. These single-vineyard wines, made in very limited quantities, are 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented with native yeast, and bottled unfined and unfiltered — resulting in the purest expression of place. They are powerful wines that reflect the intense individuality of each mountain. Sparse soils, high elevations, good drainage and the cool climates of the mountains form the backbone for these intense Cabernet Sauvignons. The Lokoya name honours the Native American tribe who lived on Mount Veeder in the western mountains of the Napa Valley prior to the arrival of viticulture in the 19th century. Paying tribute to those who farmed the Napa soils before them, Lokoya Cabernet reflects the soils and microclimates of the Napa Valley.
