5x 98-97pts Dunn Howell 2021 Greatest Vtg Ever @ Lowest Price USA
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Originally sent to our list on October 12, 2026. Pricing and availability reflect that date — for current pricing and stock, see artisan.wine.
• Lowest Price In The Country · Only 24 Bottles · Arrives Friday
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A Personal Note
Dear Artisans,
In August I offered you the 2019 Dunn Napa Valley Cabernet. Today it is the bottle Dunn collectors wait for: the 2021 Howell Mountain, from the vintage critics are calling Napa’s greatest in a generation.
Antonio Galloni called it “one of the most polished young wines I have ever tasted from Dunn.” Wine Advocate found “tremendous length and ample harmony.” We have 24 bottles, they arrive this Friday, and at $194.99 this is the lowest price in the country. They will sell out.
The Family That Defined Howell Mountain
In 1975, a young UC Davis enology graduate named Randy Dunn took a job at a small Rutherford winery called Caymus. Over the next decade he created the wines that put Caymus on the map, including the 1984 Special Selection that Wine Spectator named its Wine of the Year. Then he left the valley floor for Howell Mountain, where he had quietly purchased 14 acres of Cabernet vines back in 1978. His first Dunn Vineyards wine, 660 cases of it, came off the mountain in 1979.
Randy and Lori Dunn have owned and run Dunn Vineyards ever since. Randy, with Bill Smith and a few other growers and winemakers, proposed and defined the Howell Mountain AVA. Its boundary starts at 1,400 feet, so when the valley floor is cool and foggy, the mountain is sunny and breezy. Robert Parker: “In top vintages the Howell Mountain is one of the great wines, not just of California, but of the world.”
It is still a family affair: Randy’s son Mike joined in 1999, and since 2023 Ted Kizor has made the wine in tandem with the Dunns.
The Most Polished Dunn Yet
Antonio Galloni put it best: the 2021 is “one of the most polished young wines I have ever tasted from Dunn,” with Howell Mountain’s tannin and acid “totally woven into the wine’s heady, luxurious fabric.” Jeb Dunnuck found “a Pauillac-like nose of blackcurrants, scorched earth, graphite, and lead pencil notes.” Decanter reached for the old line about “iron fist in a velvet glove.”
Wine Spectator found “lovely polish and freshness”; Wine Advocate, a wine that “finishes with tremendous length and ample harmony.” James Suckling: “Very bold and generous, with a refined structure that will age gracefully.”
24 Bottles Of 2,583 Cases
Wine Spectator counts 2,583 cases made, for the whole world. Our allocation is 24 bottles, arriving this Friday. Elsewhere it runs $225, $250 and $300; ours is $194.99, the lowest price in the country.
Drink one in a few years and lay the rest down. Jeb Dunnuck: “Give bottles 7-8 years if you can and enjoy over the following 2-3 decades.” These will sell out, and when they do, the next bottles come from the auction market.
James Tran
Artisan Wine & Spirits
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Why This Matters
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The Wine · Only 24 Bottles
2021 Dunn Howell Mountain. Cabernet Sauvignon.
2,583 cases made. Our 24 bottles arrive this Friday.
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Dunn Vineyards Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
Howell Mountain, Napa Valley · 750 mL
100% Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented in stainless steel and aged up to 32 months in 100% new French oak, exactly as Dunn has done it since 1979. Every review is below, highest score first.
How is it the lowest price in the country? Our buying: negotiated allocations and leveraged partnerships, passed straight through to our Artisans.
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The Bottom Line
The greatest Dunn vintage, 24 bottles at $194.99.
Napa’s greatest vintage in a generation, five critics at 97 to 98+, Galloni’s most polished young Dunn, only 2,583 cases made worldwide, and the lowest price in the country.
They arrive Friday, and they will sell out. When they are gone, the next bottles come from the auction market.
Cheers,
— James Tran
Artisan Wine & Spirits
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$194.99 A Bottle · 2,583 Cases Made
• Lowest Price In The Country · Only 24 Bottles · Arrives Friday
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Artisan Wine & Spirits · 2495 Old Middlefield Way, Mountain View, CA 94043
Questions? Chat Live · sales@artisan.wine · 650-917-8080 |
The Artisan VIP List
Prices so low… we can’t show!
Join our VIP list to receive private sale offers with prices too low to publish, along with rare allocations.
Join The VIP List →
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