*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from Cornerstone Cellars.
Ah Cornerstone, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. One, your wines are delicious. Two, your Cabernets are elegant and refined. Three, your wines are delicious….wait, I already said that…but t deserves to be said again. I do need to write a post about visiting Cornerstone’s new tasting room this past summer, but for the moment you’ll have be content drooling over this lovely wine I drank the other night. After I finally felt better and had given my palate a couple extra days to recover, we popped open the 2005 Cornerstone Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. I don’t think it has been officially released yet, but it will likely retail for $100, clocks in at 14.8% alcohol by volume, and had a real cork closure.
The nose, ah the nose. You know those wines where you want to dive in and go swimming in your glass? This is one of those. Except I don’t really want to swim in it, I want to drink it…and drink it, and drink it. I got chocolate, caramel, more chocolate, chocolate black cherries, dark expensive chocolate, spice, herbs, black currants, earth, and almost a scent of pine needles. My notes say “scrumptious nose.” In the mouth I got chocolate, currants, blackberries, chocolate covered cherries (but fresh cherries, not those gross candied ones), earth, leather, and dark juicy fruit. I found the wine to be silky. I served this with petite fillet mignon right off the grill, and the tannins and structure of this wine thanked me for giving it a nice juicy steak. You should grill a steak and get a bottle of this wine….but hold the wine for 5+ years…I suggest you wait to buy the steak til then too.
Filed under: Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Red, Wine |
Wannabe Wino Wine Blog 
Dang! Your description of this wine made my mouth water. Now I’m dying to give it a try (already hit up their website). Thanks!
Thanks for the nice comments. Indeed young Howell Mountain Cabernet can convert vegetarians considering how great it tastes with steak! We have just released the 05 Howell Mountain and it will be the website next week.