Donley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 2023

Two barrels is not exactly a business model built for scale.  But it's a pretty compelling way to make your debut.
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That's all the 2023 Donley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon produced—two barrels from a tiny Howell Mountain estate founded by Landon and Sarah Donley.  And while the production may be tiny, the résumé behind it is anything but.
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Their winemaking careers have taken them through some of the valley's most respected estates.  Landon was the winemaker at Buccella and later at Trinchero Napa Valley.  Sarah helped launch Wheeler Farms, worked closely with Nigel Kinsman, the Araujo family, and Françoise Peschon, and eventually became the winemaker at ADAMVS on Howell Mountain, where she worked alongside Philippe Melka and Maayan Koschitzky. These two have spent a many years in some pretty serious rooms.  Eventually, they decided to build one of their own.

Landon and Sarah began developing their vineyard in 2015 and planted the vines in 2016, drawing on everything they'd learned along the way to be extraordinarily intentional about the site.  Today, their Cabernet vineyard sits at 1,950 feet on Howell Mountain, planted to Clone 4 and farmed entirely by Landon.  They even renovated a 1950s building on their property into a bonded winery, allowing them to make the wines entirely on-site.  Landon farms the vines.  Sarah makes the wine.  And because they have deliberately kept the operation tiny, they are personally involved in every decision.

Which brings us back to those two barrels...

This is the reason we couldn't resist introducing you to Donley Estate. This is Cabernet from a 1,950-foot Howell Mountain vineyard, made by two people who have spent their careers around some of Napa's most exacting Cabernet producers.  The 2023 is given the kind of patience you rarely see at this scale: 19 months in 100% new French oak, followed by another year of bottle age.  The wine is dark, structured, and deeply savory, with layers of black fruit, violet, graphite, and spice.  This is the tiny-production Napa Cabernet discovery we live for!