Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
Inspired by Dave and Kathleen’s desire to capture time and place, Castiel Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a collaboration among nature, patient and caring human hands, and artistic excellence. It speaks clearly of its unique and extraordinary location upon Howell Mountain. It is masterfully brought to life by the talented and renowned winemaker, Celia Welch, whose deep knowledge and understanding of expressing terroir allows each vintage to showcase its unique qualities while maintaining the consistency of Howell Mountain characteristics.
Since the first vintage in 2014, attention to detail and exacting viticultural practices yield berries of ripe, delicious flavors. The grapes are harvested by hand in several passes resulting in many distinct vinifications from which to create the final blend. At the winery, clusters are gently destemmed and berries are chosen with intent by manual and sophisticated optical sorting methods. During fermentation, the wine is left on the skins until complete, and then pressed and transferred to French oak barrels to age for 18 to 22 months. Castiel Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine structured around the backbone of minerality, concentrated fruit, powerful richness and integrated tannins, the hallmark qualities of a Howell Mountain cabernet.
Castiel Estate is made in limited quantities. We invite you to join our mailing list which will enable you to secure new vintages upon release.
To review winemaking notes of Castiel Estate vintages, please select from the list below.
Sauvignon Blanc
No more than 15 minutes after we met at a chance tasting in the heart of St. Helena, I heard a voice: “Kathleen, this is the man you are going to marry.” From that moment in time, St. Helena became a place with meaning far beyond world class food and wine and became the place for Dave and I to reflect on the bigger questions that a life raising 5 kids (and trying to permit a small vineyard on our 88 acre Howell Mountain property) has to offer. Like Augusta National is to golfers and Wimbledon is to tennis players, St. Helena is hallowed ground for Dave and me.
Since 2017, Dave and I had been searching for Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc fruit that could fully express in the traditional style and complement our beloved Howell Mountain Cabernet. Then we met Maayan Koschitzky, now the newest addition to our winemaking team, who said “yes, I have access to organically grown high quality Sauvignon Blanc fruit – how do you feel about St. Helena?” Unbelievably, Castiel, the angel of divine timing, once again brought us back full circle to the place where our story began in the early 1990s.
-Kathleen
Tasting Notes PDFs
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