1986 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
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Tasting notes
Full medium red with a faint hint of amber. Aromas of dark cherry, menthol and mint show a slightly medicinal cough medicine quality; very Médoc in style. Then surprisingly supple and fine-grained, offering terrific inner-mouth energy and acidity to shape and freshen its intense dark raspberry and menthol flavors. This wine is fully mature but still full of life, displaying plenty of tobacco and savory spices but also superb remaining fruit and floral lift. For a bone-dry wine, it delivers captivating fruit sweetness that perfectly supports its firm tannins. An excellent showing--and not as dry as the '83 or '84. (13% alcohol)
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Tasted from magnum, the 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is also the most forward and resolved of these four wines. Crushed flowers, mint, dried cherry and spice notes are all laced together in an open-knit Cabernet that is peaking. The 1986 is a terrific choice for drinking now and over the next handful of years, as it is not especially age worthy…by Dunn standards.
In this context, the 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain stands out a bit for its more delicate personality. Pliant and expressive, the 1986 is marked by lifted, floral aromatic and mid-weight structure. Savory notes, along with a hint of tar and iron linger on the close.
Two of the most impressive wines in these tastings, both of Dunn's 1986s tasted like 3-4-year old Cabernets rather than 10-year old adolescents. The opaque purple-colored 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain offers awesome richness, mindboggling intensity, huge tannin, a massive mouthfeel, and a closed yet formidably long, well-endowed finish. This wine could be put in a tasting of 1994 California Cabernets and not stand out as a 10-year old wine. Give it another 5-7 years of cellaring and drink it over the subsequent 25-30 years ... amazing! The tasting notes for this section are from two single blind tastings, one conducted in May, 1996, in California, and the other in June, 1996, in Baltimore.