Taste Of Howell Mountain

Some of our favorite Cabernet sauvignons come from grapes grown on Howell Mountain so when we heard about the Annual Taste of Howell Mountain we just had to attend on Saturday, June 16. 

This is a wine tasting and auction that benefits the Howell Mountain Elementary School.

Only in Napa does wine and elementary school go together.

 Thirty-two participating wineries gathered at Charles Krug Winery to share their version of wine using grapes on Howell Mountain.  We were able to try wine from several wineries that we were not familiar with and two that were stand outs for us was Outpost Estate Winery and their 2009 Howell Mountain Cabernet and the 2009 Howell Mountain Cabernet from O'Shaughnessy Estate Winery neither which will be released until September.  

 There was a silent auction as well as a live auction.  There was some some phenomenal items in the live auction such as a Howell Mountain dinner for 8 people beginning with appetizers at Outpost Estate Winery, your first course at CADE, finishing with dessert at the private home of the co-proprietors of Aloft.  Unfortunately we haven't won the lottery so we supported the school fund by placing the winning bids on some items in the silent auction.

Sunday we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Cafe Sarafornia in Calistoga.  Jim tried the Huevos Rancheros and I had the Brannan Benedict, a twist on eggs benedict served on foccacia bread with guacamole and bacon.

 Afterwards we stopped in at  Silverado Vineyards for a tasting before heading home.

View from the terrace at Silverado

Another view.

Save the date for June 15, 2013 if you want to attend the 18th Annual Taste of Howell Mountain.  It's on my calendar!