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Wine Information
La Jota Vineyard Co. was founded in the 1890s by Frederick Hess, an immigrant from Locarno, Switzerland, who established a German-language newspaper in San Francisco. No doubt influenced by other European immigrants involved in California's nascent wine industry, Hess purchased 327 acres of a Mexican land grant—Rancho La Jota—high on Howell Mountain for his vineyards. In 1898 he built the winery from volcanic ash rock quarried right on the property; his first fermentation tanks also came from the estate—from a stand of nearby coastal redwoods.
At the 1900 Paris Exposition, only two years after the winery's construction, the wines of La Jota garnered international recognition with a bronze medal; in 1904 they won gold at the World's Fair in St. Louis.
La Jota wines are handcrafted at our original 1898 fieldstone winery and hillside cave. From the low yielding vines of 28 mountain acres, we produce Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and our crown jewel, the annual Heritage Release Cabernet Sauvignon (formerly the Anniversary Release).
About | Winery
While growing grapes in the nutrient-lean, volcanic soils of our La Jota estate is a challenge, the rewards are undeniable. Highly concentrated flavors and muscular tannins slowly mature to perfection, while the cool winds, diurnal temperature swings and high altitude keep the grape acids impeccably balanced, revealing the distinctive voice of our estate.
Our viticulturist, Mariano Navarro, and winemaker, Christopher Carpenter, understand the meticulous requirements of mountain farming and mountain winemaking. Their goal is to gently tame tannins while allowing the intriguing mineral, spice and sweet forest loam characters unique to our estate to enhance the complexity of our opulent fruit.
We craft Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, as well as our flagship wine, Heritage Release Cabernet Sauvignon, in very limited production. The wines' distinctive flavor profiles from our cool-climate terroir uniquely reveal the voice of our high-elevation La Jota estate.
The Vineyards
The grapes for our Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon were grown in our La Jota Estate vineyard and our Keyes vineyard. La Jota vineyard is located high upon a volcanic Howell Mountain plateau overlooking Napa Valley. Our unique spot, surrounded by pines, firs, oak and madrone trees, is characterized by cool-climate terroir and winds coming up the canyon. We choose a selection of our softer-textured Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard blocks to give this wine earlier approachability, while capturing full expression of La Jota's cool-climate terroir. The Keyes vineyard, a mile down the road and with a very different terroir, provides a "pop" of bright fruit character and broader tannins. The Petit Verdot was harvested from a small planting near the winery.
Winemaking
We hand-harvested the grapes into small, 30-pound boxes to prevent crushing, and then brought them to our winery for hand sorting. After destemming and light crushing, the must was cold soaked for gentle color, flavor and tannin extraction. To bridle the "mountain tannins", Chris added small amounts of oxygen into the wine with three "splashing pump-overs" a day during the primary fermentation in stainless steel tanks. In-barrel malolactic fermentation rounded the acidity and softly integrated the vanillin character of the new French oak barrels. To further enhance the wine's elegance, we racked the wine five times during its 22 months of barrel aging.
