2021 Bjorn Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain, USA
Regular price $85.00
You know I taste a lot of wine. But every once in a while, a bottle reminds me why I fell in love with Napa in the first place.
$85/bottle
93 pts, Wine Enthusiast
Grower-Producer | Howell Mountain Estate | Only a few hundred cases made
This is one of those bottles.
Bjorn is the real deal—a classically French-trained winemaker who studied in Champagne (of all places) and now tends his own tiny hillside vineyard on Howell Mountain. He does everything himself. No fancy marketing team, no inflated scores, no smoke and mirrors (literally). Just precision farming, honest winemaking, and mountain fruit that speaks for itself.
And here’s the part that really gets me:
He didn’t bottle a single drop of wine in 2020.
When the fires tainted his fruit, he walked away from the vintage. No shortcuts, no excuses—just integrity. Most people don’t realize how devastating that is for a small producer like him. But that’s who he is. And that’s why this 2021 is so special—it’s a comeback vintage, and it absolutely over-delivers.
The wine is textbook Howell Mountain—dense, structured, layered. Dark berry fruit, cassis, cedar, violets, espresso, and minerality from that volcanic hillside soil. Aged in French oak with tannins that are firm but refined. You can age this for years, or decant it now and feel like a genius.
