Which came first, the mountain or the sea? Water came to the planet from outer space, so the scientists postulate. When the Earth’s tectonic plates crashed together, they raised the dragon’s veins, as mountain ranges are known in Chinese geomancy, skywards from the ocean floor, the source of rivers: wind making rain on the mountains that would hold, control and channel water to nourish the land as it returns to the sea, to begin again, say too the geologists and hydrologists.
The water cycle is indivisible from planet, soil and climate; the water we have and are (70 per cent) now is the very same element of extra-terrestrial primordial origin, constantly born again as if to cleanse the hubris of the techno anthropocene.
But there are apparently places where one might still experience the electricity of creation. Based in Howell Mountain in the Napa Valley, Outpost Wines sits above extreme summer heat and perennial fog. It grows its own grapes and makes wine with a fidelity to origins palpable to seekers of the ineffable je ne sais quois, and all that is experienced but can never be satisfyingly explained.
In this, one also recalls the otherworldly Oakville terroir of Promontory and Harlan Estate in Napa. Not having been, I can only attempt to divine from photos what it’s like to be there; and from their wines that find you as you are, where you are, to tell you their stories with serendipity, when you need to hear them.
So, what is the creation myth of Outpost? AXA Millesimes, no stranger to winos the world over, was looking to make more complete its global portfolio by burnishing it with something appropriate from America’s Golden State. To cut to the chase, they found a man in the mountains making his own stellar stuff that he sold to a modest number of lucky subscribers on his mailing list, and was happy to carry on as owner-winemaker. Then, as ever, a change in domestic personal affairs reverberated into the wider world, this time of wine, altering his way of thinking, and he sold to his courtier.
Outpost, founded in 1998, traces its antecedents to the mid-19th century. There are 44ac in three blocks of between 1,800 and 2,200ft, comprising stony and red volcanic soils. Drinking collectors may like to know that the harvest is done manually before dawn, with the fruit undergoing pre-ferment maceration, or a ‘cold soak’, in the open-air winery to naturally cajole all of their aromatic and flavour compounds into play. Fermentation is on a parcel-by-parcel basis (some, intra-parcel) and the wines are unrefined and unfiltered.
So, the wines. Recently in Kuala Lumpur, here are my impressions over the course of several hours of swirl, breathe in, sip, and aspire—sans the distraction of food. All are 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 19 months in French oak barrels, 80 or 90 percent new, and made by Thomas Rivers Brown. Suffice to say that ‘investment-grade’ scratches the surface of their experience and their returns are unquantifiably better.
Highlights from Outpost Wines
Outpost Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Exuberant; life at its growth stage. Stimulating, dense flavours; a depth of black fruit. 1,880 cases.
Outpost Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Swishes of fresh mushrooms and roasted coffee grounds. Fresh fruit as with 2018, crisper, relatively more poised on the palate. 2,345 cases.
Outpost True Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Enchanting; finesse, movement, coherence, beauty. Drop of nectar on the palate. 775 cases.
Outpost True Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
Complex, developing, harmonising; rind, tea, herbs, mineral; red, vermillion nose and palate; a warmer vintage? 676 cases.
Boutique Fine Wines and Spirits
Photos from Outpost Wines
