A bottle of 2022 Black Sears Estate Cabernet Sauvignon wine with a dark label on a gray background.

BLACK SEARS · HOWELL MOUNTAIN

2022 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

$160.00

The 2022 Estate Cab grew slowly — a dry season, tight clusters from Block Seven at 2,400 feet on Howell Mountain. Thomas Rivers Brown made it. It spent 22 months in French Oak. It is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, farmed organically and biodynamically on volcanic, iron-laden soils. It tastes like the mountain it came from.

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Visually, the '22 Cab is an ink black abyss ringed by the last sliver of red sunlight in a crepuscular sky. The nose opens with currant, cassis, and ripe bing cherry — black pepper, sage, and iron dust underneath. On the palate, the fruit is the same cassis and cherry, the structure a touch more restrained than some vintages from this site. Firm, dry tannins softened by the interplay of fruit, acidity, and earthiness. The finish is long and mineral. Approachable now; best 2025–2035.

Flat iron steak with pepper and your favorite spicy rub, garlic mashed potatoes, broccolini, a Caesar with anchovies. Follow with a cherry kirsch-infused black forest cake. Drop the needle on Charles Mingus.

Vintage
2022
Varietal
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Appellation
Howell Mountain AVA, Napa Valley
Vineyard block
Black Sears Estate Block Seven
Winemaker
Thomas Rivers Brown
Harvest date
September 21, 2022
Bottling date
June 2024
Farming
Organic/Biodynamic (totally uncertified)
Aging
22 months French Oak, 2/3 new, 1/3 year-old
ABV
14.2%
Acidity
6.3 g/L
pH
3.69
Drinking window
2025–2035

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A bottle of 2022 Black Sears Estate Cabernet Sauvignon wine with a dark label on a gray background.
A glass of red wine with a blurred background featuring a man and a floral arrangement, indicative of a sophisticated drinking setting with a bottle of Black Sears 2022 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon on the table.
Black Sears Cork on the ground

Block Seven

Block Seven has been here longer than we have. The vines go into volcanic, iron-laden soil high in kaolinite — the kind of dirt that holds the memory of a mountain. At 2,400 feet, this is one of the highest elevation Cabernet Sauvignon sites in all of the Howell Mountain AVA. The growing season is short. The clusters are tight. The fruit concentrates because it has to.

Joyce and Jerre Sears didn't plant this block to make a famous wine. They bought the land mainly so no one else would. Ashley and Chris came up the mountain in 2008 and found something already in motion — a vineyard that had been slowly becoming itself for decades.

Thomas Rivers Brown has made every vintage. We hired him mainly because he was already here. That turned out to be one of the better decisions we've made.
The Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is what this mountain tastes like when you leave it mostly alone, farm it honestly, and get out of the way. There are a limited number of cases each year. The mountain gives what it gives.

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Every wine we make comes from the same 24 acres on Howell Mountain. Different varietals, different blocks - the same wild, specific place.

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