This small estate on Howell Mountain remains one of California's finest producers of world-class, complex red wine. The 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon-Howell Mountain is typically backward, tannic, full-bodied, and concentrated, but 6-7 years away from accessible drinkability. The color is opaque garnet/purple, and the nose is tight but promising, with scents of minerals, cassis, and spices. Rich and concentrated, as well as ferociously tannic (the tannin is ripe rather than astringent), this promising wine should reach its apogee by the turn of the century and last 20 or more years.