Ratings & Tasting Notes:

No critic score or CellarTracker rating specific to this exact 2003 vintage was confirmed at the time this listing was created.

Cult Wines International Notes:

Elyse Winery was founded in 1987 by Ann and Rick Forman, growing from a modest inaugural vintage of just 286 cases into an estate winery drawing on a select handful of excellent vineyards across Napa Valley. Elyse built its reputation on old-vine Zinfandel and hillside Cabernet, and its Howell Mountain bottling draws on one of Napa’s most storied, rugged growing areas — a sub-region that was actually first made famous by Zinfandel in the 1800s, decades before Cabernet Sauvignon took over as the mountain’s flagship grape. Howell Mountain became the first officially recognized sub-appellation of Napa Valley in 1983, prized for its high-elevation vineyards that sit above the fog line, its shallow volcanic and red clay soils, and the concentrated, thick-skinned berries those conditions produce.

Howell Mountain Zinfandel from this era is generally known for its powerful, structured character — dark, dry, and tannic, built on massive blackberry, blueberry, and dark chocolate flavors with real aging potential rare for the varietal. Now over two decades past release, this bottle should be showing the kind of mature, savory complexity that mountain-grown Zinfandel rarely achieves — a genuine rarity for collectors accustomed to Zinfandel as an early-drinking wine.

Bottle Size:

750 mL

Storage History:

Always stored on its side in a climate-controlled cellar.

Condition:

Please note: The bottle shown is the exact bottle being sold.

Outstanding condition.