Chris Carpenter: Howell Mountain Man

La Jota winemaker Chris Carpenter enjoys the challenge high elevation vineyards provide.

There are two places Chris Carpenter feels at home.

Behind a bar and in a mountain vineyard. For 30 years the veteran winemaker spent his Friday nights tending bar at the Rutherford Grill. A regular hot spot for wine industry members to unwind at the end of the week, Carpenter and his affable personality could easily wind up a great story or bend an ear to anyone that pulled up a stool.

While the COVID-19 pandemic led to the end of his bar tending side hustle, Carpenter hasn’t worked behind a bar in two years, his story telling as the premiere winemaker for the Jackson Family Wines high elevation vineyards in Napa Valley is at its pinnacle.

The elegantly styled La Jota Napa Valley Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 ($175) had plum, blackberry, toasted coffee bean, and silky tannins in perfect harmony with the fruit flavors. It’s amazing Carpenter was able to coax such a wide collection of flavors out of hiding in the young life of a wine made from mountain fruit.

“Wine, like a lot of things, it’s all about storytelling,” Carpenter said. “There are so many different layers in a bottle of wine. It’s such a part of our culture. The first bottles were made in Georgia some 4,000 years ago.

“Wine bottles have been found in the pyramids. Champagne has been a part of celebrating every major event in world history. There’s a story around the bottle you’re presenting and the story of the people involved in it. From the people in the vineyard and everyone involved in how it came to be, all create another level of engagement in the wine.” 

High above the Napa Valley floor, above the fog line where the sun is more intense, the forest struggles in poor soils and the fauna changes. This is the home of mountain lions and black bears. It’s also where Carpenter tells a story better than anyone else.