Auctioneer Reserve spotlight
2020 Auctioneer Howell Mountain Reserve Cabernet, Napa Valley (92WE)
Trevor Sheehan's first Auctioneer Howell Mountain Reserve, blackberry and cocoa on volcanic rock, a 92-point 2020 you can open at twenty dollars.
The 2020 Auctioneer Reserve is 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon from a private Howell Mountain vineyard: blackberry, raspberry, cocoa, cracked pepper, and fine-grained tannin after 20 months in new French oak, now $20.
Howell Mountain Cabernet from the first Auctioneer Reserve bottling
Auctioneer honors Michael Broadbent, the Christie's auctioneer who helped found the Napa Valley Wine Auction with Robert Mondavi. The 2020 Reserve is the first bottling: a private Howell Mountain vineyard, not made every year, not always from the same site. Trevor Sheehan. 100 percent Cabernet. Harvest October 16, 2020. Twenty months in 100 percent new French oak. Bottled December 2, 2022. Wine Enthusiast 92. This is mountain Cabernet you can actually open at twenty dollars.
The house
The Auctioneer label is Broadbent's tribute to Michael Broadbent's wine-auction life and his Napa connection. The Reserve is small-batch, selected years only.
The wine
100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Igneous mountain rock. Barrel fermented. 20 months 100% new French oak. 14.5% ABV.
The scores
Wine Enthusiast 92: juicy, rich, generous blackberry, raspberry, spice, pepper, cocoa, chocolate liqueur, fine-grained tannin.
The drinker
Decant 30 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 65 F. Strip steak frites, or a grilled steak.
Blackberry and cocoa, then pepper and fine tannin
Wine Enthusiast found a juicy, rich, generous Cabernet with blackberry, raspberry, mixed spices, and freshly cracked black pepper, then cocoa and chocolate liqueur after each sip, with abundant fine-grained tannin and a lingering finish. The house note adds black cherry, cassis, plum, slight blueberry, vanilla, oak, and chocolate on a medium-bodied, silky frame.
A warm drought year. Harvest began October 16. Fruit from volcanic soils was oak-barrel fermented with cultured yeast and stayed in those barrels 20 months. The first Reserve bottling, released for exceptional years only.
Blackberry, raspberry, black cherry, cassis, plum, blueberry, cocoa, vanilla, cracked pepper.
Medium body, 14.5% ABV, 100% new French oak, fine-grained abundant tannin.
Lingering cocoa and spice. Decant 30 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 65 F.
Barrel fermented, then twenty months in new French oak
Compiled winery specs put Trevor Sheehan on 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon from igneous Howell Mountain rock. Grapes were oak-barrel fermented with cultured yeast, then aged in those same French barrels for 20 months. Alcohol 14.5 percent. Total acidity 6.5 g/L. pH 3.73. Bottled December 2, 2022. That is why blackberry and cocoa sit on pepper and tannin instead of turning simple.
Howell Mountain sits above the fog line. Volcanic soils and elevation keep the fruit dark and the tannin real. New oak is part of the Reserve brief, not an accident.
Serve slightly cool. A 30 to 60 minute decant is the right move beside steak.
Named for the man who taught the world to auction wine
Michael Broadbent founded Christie's wine department in 1966 and later partnered with Robert Mondavi on the Napa Valley Wine Auction.
Broadbent wrote Wine Tasting, kept a Decanter column for 36 years, and shaped how professionals taste. The Auctioneer label uses that heritage as its frame: Napa Cabernet with polish and an auction-world backstory.
The Reserve represents only the best years, small batches from Auctioneer's finest vineyards. 2020 is the first Howell Mountain Reserve bottling. It will not be produced every year, nor always from the same vineyard.
The pitch is simple: credible mountain Cabernet, Wine Enthusiast 92, a twenty-dollar openable bottle.
Steakhouse char, pepper, and brown butter
Protein softens the tannin. Char, pepper, brown butter, and roasted potatoes make the cocoa and black-fruit side feel richer.
Two plates. One strip steak frites with bearnaise butter. One grilled steak. Both can take this Howell Mountain tannin.
Serve 60 to 65 F. Decant 30 to 60 minutes. Chill lightly if the bottle is room-warm.
Strip Steak Frites with Bearnaise Butter
New York strip, salty fries, and bearnaise-style butter give the Cabernet the fat, char, and herb lift it wants.
Why it works: Char and butter meet cocoa and pepper. Protein softens the new-oak tannin.
View Recipe for strip steak frites with bearnaise butter (opens in a new tab)
Grilled Steak
Char, salt, and a warm crust make this Howell Mountain Cabernet feel darker, broader, and more complete.
Why it works: Rendered fat and a grilled crust give the tannin somewhere to land while pepper echoes the wine's spice.
View Recipe for grilled steak (opens in a new tab)Put this Howell Mountain Cabernet in the cart
Wine Enthusiast 92. First Auctioneer Reserve. Twenty dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is the Auctioneer bottle for a steak night that still wants mountain Cabernet in the glass.
