Benchmark Wine Group

Dunn Vineyards

Randy Dunn purchased the initial land for Dunn Vineyards in 1979 with optimistic hopes of crafting fine wines from Howell Mountain. His hopes were surpassed as Dunn Vineyards is looked to as an example of terroir driven wines for the entire Napa Valley. Dunn takes great pride in his mountain fruit and tries to keep the alcohol of his wines close 13% asserting this lower level allows the flavors of the land to come through. Their small hillside vineyards dotting Howell Mountain are balanced with the natural vegetation and vineyards. This family run operation owns a total of 200 acres with 35 planted of predominately Cabernet Sauvignon and produces about 5000 cases annually.

Each vintage possesses a remarkable balance of fruit and tannins that enables each wine to be laid down for 15 years or more. These wines are tough to get a hold of because the winery is not listed on any of the Napa tourist maps and is closed to the public, so Benchmark Wine Group is extremely thrilled to offer you such a vast selection!

Tasting Notes

WA94: he 1994s might be ready to drink within 10-15 years. It is hard to believe these wines spend 30 months in oak casks before bottling as they are incredibly unevolved and backward when released. The 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa reveals an opaque purple color, followed by a sweet, rich, black currant and creme de cassis-scented nose with no evidence of oak. This fruit bomb displays considerable breadth and expansiveness on the palate, in essence revealing only two dimensions - fruit and tannin. It is slightly softer and more precocious than the 1995 and 1996, so perhaps it will only need 10, rather than 15 years of cellaring. This immensely impressive Cabernet is a candidate for 20-30 years of cellaring. One of the issues about which Randy Dunn is sensitive is the fact that his wines are so remarkably consistent that it is often difficult to tell vintages apart. I think the vintage character will become more apparent when the wines are 15-20 years of age. Even the most professional palate will be inundated with a furious blast of tannin and concentrated cassis and blackberry fruit when these wines are young. With that in mind, the notes for the wines reviewed in this segment do sound similar, but I feel 1994 may turn out to be Dunn's finest of the three most recent vintages. At present, 1995 looks to be the most tannic, and 1996, similar to, but softer than 1994.

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Dunn Vineyards

Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 1994 1.5L

Tasting Notes

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