The Talk of Napa! 95-pt. Howell Mt. Cabernet — Get in On the Ground Floor!

WHY BUY: Psst … want to get in on the ground floor of something special? This is your chance, before the mainstream catches up and the prices climb. We were blown away at our recent tasting of wines from Salty Goats, a total passion project from a pair of winemakers from Far Niente's Nickel & Nickel, and the three we selected (including a 95-point Cabernet from Howell Mountain for just $100 and two earthy, expressive Pinot Noirs that dazzled the critics and that clock in at just under $50 and $60, respectively) are a harbinger of big, big things to come. The spirit of the garagiste (small-batch, native fermentations, long, patient aging) lives on in these soulfully expressive and deeply nuanced wines, and we’ve got a feeling you're going to fall in love with them, too.

THE STORY: Joe Harden and Phil Holbrook met on a Yountville basketball court in 2015, bonding over their shared obsessions with surfing and winemaking. For the next nine harvests, they worked side by side at Nickel and Nickel, presided over by one of Napa's legendary estates, Far Niente. Harden had chosen wine; Holbrook had essentially been raised in the industry, and could lay claim to being winemaking royalty as the grandson of Margrit Mondavi. By day, they crafted high-end Cabernet, all the while dreaming of making their own wines; wines with less muscle and power, and that reflected the terroir of the coastline. By 2020, their weekend drives to scout land had become an obsession. It was not long after that they found their ideal patch of earth, a vineyard in Fort Ross-Seaview, and launched Salty Goats as their after-hours escape. Here it was, their chance to make the transparent, site-driven Pinot Noirs they craved. But as their Howell Mountain Cabernet has proven, they’re not just Pinot Noir specialists. What they are, is passionate, throwback winemakers, who draw upon their immense technical savvy to make wines of depth and distinction and character. Wines that matter.

OUR TASTING NOTES: The Coastline Pinot delivers exactly what its name promises; there's genuine salinity here, that distinctive maritime character mingling with loamy earth and bright cherry fruit. What impressed us most here is the texture: velvety tannins that support rather than dominate, letting the wine's vibrant acidity and blood orange notes shine through. The Fort Ross-Seaview steps things up with more pronounced minerality and restraint; this is Pinot Noir that doesn’t declaim; it commands the floor with a quiet dignity. We loved the delicate touches on display — from the rose petal aromatics to the brown spices that unfold gradually across the palate. The star of this show is the Howell Mountain Cabernet. Dense and chewy without being at all ponderous, it shows the robust mountain tannins you'd expect, intricately woven with graphite minerality and dark cacao. It’s a wine of depth and profundity, yet, for us, it’s the underlying grace that kept us coming back to explore it and savor it. 

FUN FACT: The name "Salty Goats" isn't just coastal whimsy; it’s a reference to the duo's dual passions: the salty spray of their weekend surf sessions and the stubborn, adventurous spirit required to launch a wine project while working full-time.