Far Mountain
Montecillo Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
Moon District and Sonoma County
The Montecillo vineyard is one of California’s most historic sites, first planted in 1860. This Cabernet Sauvignon reflects the vineyard’s high elevation, volcanic soils, dry-farming, organic viticulture, and pioneering spirit. Refined and complex, it honors over a century of resilience and innovation at Montecillo, embodying the enduring legacy of California winemaking.
VINEYARD
The Montecillo vineyard is one of California’s most historic sites, first planted in 1860. This Cabernet Sauvignon reflects the vineyard’s high elevation, volcanic soils, dry-farming, organic viticulture, and pioneering spirit. Refined and complex, it honors over a century of resilience and innovation at Montecillo, embodying the enduring legacy of California winemaking.
WINEMAKING
Montecillo is a dry-farmed vineyard atop the Mayacamas, where steep west-facing slopes and terraced rows yield low-vigor, concentrated fruit. Harvest is guided by flavor development rather than sugar alone. Grapes are destemmed and gravity-fed into open-top fermenters, cold-soaked at 50°F for 4–5 days, then fermented to 86°F. Punch-downs and pump-overs build early structure, transitioning to gentle homogenization as fermentation completes. The wine is drained, pressed, settled 48 hours, and racked to barrel, preserving clarity and site character.
VINTAGE
The 2023 season opened with 39 inches of rainfall, replenishing reservoirs and the water table. A cool, damp spring delayed budbreak 10 to 14 days, while shoot growth and cluster development reached ideal balance by early summer. Mild, consistent temperatures supported a slow ripening curve, allowing flavors and phenolics to develop fully without rapid sugar accumulation. Yields were higher than recent vintages. The resulting fruit showed exceptional acidity, depth, and site-driven expression—a clear reflection of the red basalt soils of the Mayacamas.
TASTING NOTE
Intense black-violet color with excellent depth. Expressive aromas on the nose bursting with alpine berries, violet, and forest floor; firm mountain tannins frame a long, vibrant finish.
FOOD PAIRING
Grilled ribeye or lamb chops, wild mushroom risotto
Color
Red
Blend %
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Appellation
Moon District and Sonoma County
Alcohol
14%
Suggested Retail Price
$110
Reviews
Vinous - February 1, 2026 "The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Montecillo is a total stunner. Crushed rocks, lavender, rose petal, mint, gravel, incense and blood orange all race out of the glass. A wine of rare finesse and vertical lift, the 2023 dazzles from start to finish. This is one of the classiest, most polished wines readers will find from Montecillo. Gravel, scorched earth, licorice and broad, chocolatey tannins frame the dramatic finish. The wines from this site, from all producers, seem to have taken a serious jump forward after Stewart Cellars purchased the vineyard in 2022."
James Suckling - December 10, 2025 "Dark fruited, spicy and perfumed, with aromas of dried flowers and graphite. The palate is tightly wound, with mouthwatering tannins and bright acidity that cut through the layered palate of tightly packed fruit. Such a refined and pure example of cabernet sauvignon with a mountainous feel."
Trade Materials
Other Wines by this Producer
Far Mountain Monte Rosso Vineyard
Moon District and Sonoma County
From the historic Monte Rosso vineyard planted in the 1880s and defined by its deep red volcanic soils, this Cabernet Sauvignon is crafted with a gentle and precise approach in the cellar to express the site’s structure, depth, and enduring sense of place.
The Nunnery Vineyard
Moon District and Sonoma County
The Nunnery is a striking mountain vineyard perched high in Nunn’s Canyon on the Sonoma side of the Mayacamas. The site reflects a deep understanding of mountain viticulture, where volcanic soils, elevation, and steady mountain air shape wines of clarity, structure, and vibrant energy. As a result, The Nunnery blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc is as exotic, intense and complex as its mountain soils, with remarkable depth and layered flavors.
Amotus Cabernet Sauvignon
Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California
Fission is a wine of texture, with the intensity and concentration we associate with old vines. It builds into powerful tannins that remain refined, almost cloaked by the seductiveness of the fruit and the gently building structure. The name Fission was ultimately chosen to reference the textural and mineral characteristics that the unique volcanic soil brings to this wine.
Bresa Chardonnay
Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California
Bresa Chardonnay is a wine of substance, grown from the oldest block of Bald Mountain Vineyard, planted in 1972 with Wente clones on fractured volcanic rock. This single-parcel, dry-farmed site yields just one barrel, producing a wine of depth, tension, and dazzling clarity. Far Mountain is rooted in the belief that the most profound wines come from remote mountain sites in Sonoma. Their growers have taken decades of risk, and the winery channels that drama into wines of energy, texture, and endless fascination.
Fission Cabernet Sauvignon
Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California
Fission is a wine of texture, with the intensity and concentration we associate with old vines. It builds into powerful tannins that remain refined, almost cloaked by the seductiveness of the fruit and the gently building structure. The name Fission was ultimately chosen to reference the textural and mineral characteristics that the unique volcanic soil brings to this wine.
Myrna Chardonnay
Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California
Myrna combines Bald Mountain’s surprisingly delicate floral notes that move quickly to ripe yellow and more exotic fruits with salty, lime and green fruit-inflected notes from Thornton Vineyard. The sappy texture of the wine makes its presence felt, and this grows into a more defined and powerful structure with layers of spice persisting through the finish.
