Brand story
Outpost Cabernet Sauvignon True Vineyard 2019
Outpost was established in 1998, but grapes have been grown on this part of Howell Mountain since the mid-1800s. Generation after generation has been drawn to the same combination of rocky red volcanic soil, high altitude, sunny western exposure and gentle cooling breezes — the conditions behind the concentration, intensity and distinctive spicy character that define the wines. The estate sits above the fog line on the eastern hills of Napa Valley and today belongs to AXA Millésimes, the group behind Château Pichon Baron and Quinta do Noval, with Thomas Rivers Brown as consultant winemaker.
The True Vineyard bottling comes entirely from a single site at 1,800 feet. Fruit is picked late in the season, by hand at dawn, to hold the mountain's intensity and spice; each block is fermented separately so the team can be uncompromising about which lots make the final blend, and the wine is neither fined nor filtered. The 2019 is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 19 months in 90% new French oak, with just 775 cases made. Critics called it full-bodied, concentrated and plush, saturating the palate without heaviness and lingering elegantly — a wine that gives pleasure now but is built for two decades and more. Howell Mountain Cabernet in its most complete form.
