Gaslighter Howell Mountain spotlight
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2019 Gaslighter Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain, USA
Joe Uhr's Howell Mountain Cabernet, blackberry and graphite after 20 months in French oak, a 2019 you can open at fifty-five dollars.
The 2019 is 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain: dark berry, cocoa, mountain sage, and a long savory close after 20 months in 60 percent new French oak, now $55.
Mountain Cabernet with grip, not a valley-floor slogan
Howell Mountain sits above the fogline. Rocky volcanic slopes, small berries, and cool nights give Cabernet intensity without turning it into jam. Joe Uhr, after Duckhorn, Kenwood, Korbel, and a decade at Gundlach Bundschu, aged this 2019 twenty months in 60 percent new French oak. The vineyard is undisclosed. The AVA is not. This is the bottle that argues for mountain tannin you can actually buy.
The house
Gaslighter is a limited Howell Mountain Cabernet project. Joe Uhr makes the wine. Gundlach Bundschu is the cellar context, not a second label leftover.
The wine
100% Cabernet Sauvignon. 14.5% ABV. Twenty months in French oak, 60% new. Dark fruit, graphite spice, mountain tannin.
The place
Howell Mountain AVA, Napa's first sub-AVA, above the fogline. The specific vineyard is not named on the label, so it is not named here.
The drinker
Blackberry and sage first. Decant 30 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Ribeye or roasted mushrooms.
Dark berry, cocoa, then the mountain close
Blackberry and cassis lead. Cocoa and graphite from the oak sit in the middle. Mountain sage and a savory finish keep it from turning sweet.
A Napa mountain year that favored dark fruit and firm tannin. Twenty months in 60 percent new French oak added cocoa and graphite without sanding off the site.
Blackberry, cassis, cocoa, graphite, mountain sage, a savory herb edge.
Full, 14.5% ABV, firm mountain tannin polished by 20 months in French oak.
Long and savory. Decant 30 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Twenty months, sixty percent new, one mountain AVA
On the producer sheet, this 2019 is 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain, aged 20 months in French oak with 60 percent new barrels. Joe Uhr wants polish and spice without burying the mountain tannin. The vineyard is under wraps. The method is not: small berries, volcanic slopes, oak as seasoning.
Fourteen-point-five percent alcohol. Dark fruit first, then cocoa, then a sage-and-graphite close that still reads as Howell Mountain.
Decant 30 to 60 minutes. Serve slightly cool. Ribeye, burgers, or roasted mushrooms.
A limited mountain Cabernet with a serious cellar hand
Gaslighter is a Howell Mountain Cabernet project, not a celebrity leftover.
Joe Uhr came to this bottle after Duckhorn, Kenwood, Korbel, and a decade at Gundlach Bundschu. Mountain Cabernet is the brief.
Howell Mountain became Napa's first sub-AVA in 1983 because elevation, thin soils, and cool nights make a different Cabernet than the valley floor.
This 2019 is that argument in one bottle: limited, oak-aged, labeled Howell Mountain, still built for a steak table.
Give the tannin flame, char, and mushrooms
Howell Mountain Cabernet wants a hard sear and something earthy. Ribeye, burgers, or roasted mushrooms pull the savory close forward.
Two plates. One pan-seared steak. One sauteed mushrooms. Both can take mountain tannin.
Decant 30 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Air is for the sage and graphite, not a rescue.
Perfect Pan-Seared Steaks
A hard crust, coarse salt, and pan juices. Mountain Cabernet's classic landing.
Why it works: Beef fat softens tannin while char and salt pull blackberry and sage through the oak.
View Recipe for Perfect Pan-Seared Steaks (opens in a new tab)
Sauteed Mushrooms
Butter, garlic, and browned caps. The vegetarian lane that still meets mountain Cabernet.
Why it works: Mushroom earth echoes the savory close while butter rounds the tannin.
View Recipe for Sauteed Mushrooms (opens in a new tab)Put Howell Mountain Cabernet in the cart
Joe Uhr, 20 months French oak, Howell Mountain fruit. Fifty-five dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is mountain Cabernet with a named winemaker and a price that does not match the elevation.
