Wines – Dunn Vineyards

Dunn Vineyards built its name on its two wines defined by structure, purity, and restraint: Howell Mountain and Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Both wines are made identically, aged 32 months in 100% new French oak. The Howell Mountain bottling utilizes only the fruit farmed from our 42 acres on Howell Mountain, where the berries have thick skins to withstand the additional hours of sunlight and intense breezes. Powerful, savory, and mineral-driven, Dunn Howell Mountain has a signature spice note of cumin and coriander. Until 2017, all formats of the Howell Mountain wine were hand-dipped in red wax, but now only magnums and 5Ls bear that unique closure.

Historic Vintage Notes

“Howell Mountain had record snowfall and ample rain (60 inches), followed by a very cool spring and early summer heat. Luckily, we had no frost damage like last year! The crop seems a little light, but we’ll take what we can get after some wild weather events.” Harvest: Oct. 9 – Nov. 2

Howell Mountain

2022 Howell Mountain sings, even at this young age, with suavity and soulfulness. The hallmarks we admire vintage after vintage of our Howell Mountain bottling are on full display: toasted cumin, a slatey mineral edge, and unfurling layers of density and complexity. Grippy yet somehow ethereal, velvety tannins reverberate around a rich core of red and black fruit, taut yet lifted by violets and wild mountain herbs. Exceptionally selective blending was required for this vintage of Howell to showcase the challenging growing season without sacrificing any power or prestige. 2022 Howell is a reminder of how great sites and wines can prevail even in the most trying circumstances.

Beginning in 1982, the Napa Valley bottling has provided a different expression of Dunn, showcasing fruit from the more approachable, juicy, and plush valley floor. While early vintages of the Napa bottling used exclusively purchased fruit, this wine often combines a portion of purchased fruit from the valley floor with the younger vine, earlier ripening parcels from our vineyards on Howell Mountain.

Napa Valley

The 2022 Napa Valley is sourced entirely from our Howell Mountain vineyards, a rarity in more recent vintages, highlighting blocks that convey the valley floor’s plushness in a warmer season. Brambly raspberry, blackberry, and black currant are snapped into focus on the palate by lacy tannins and lively acidity. The tension of the 2022 Napa is underlined by graphite, black licorice, and forest floor—a perfectly struck chord of just-ripe fruit and earthy elegance. This is an encapsulation of Napa Valley Cabernet, the Dunn way.

In certain vintages, we craft a reserve wine, only when it does not diminish the quality of the Howell Mountain wine. In 2012 and 2013, to commemorate the original parcel Randy and Lori purchased, we produced a vineyard and barrel selection from the Trailer Vineyard. To honor our oldest blocks on property, if and when the vintage allows, we bottle a reserve wine called “El Camino,” which has been produced thus far in 2017, 2018, and 2021. The “El Camino” name was somewhat synonymous with Dunn Vineyards, since Randy described his 1969 El Camino truck in the annual winery newsletter for the first nine years of the winery, detailing how many miles he’d put on the car, the numerous repairs, and if the family had managed to take it anywhere. “El Camino” is a celebration of old vines and can simply be described as our Howell Mountain turned up to eleven.