ABOUT US
Quantum Limit is a 69-acre sprawling mountainside ranch located in the Howell Cordillera, specifically the southern end of the Howell Mountains in the southeastern corner of Napa Valley. The Howell Mountains begin just northwest of St. Helena at the Howell Mountain sub-appellation and extend south to Vallejo just north of the estuary of where the Sacramento River flows into the San Francisco Bay. To the southwest, Quantum Limit has breathtaking views of the two highest summits in the Howell Mountains, Twin Sisters (northern peak 2,259 ft and southern 2,177 ft), To the east the Estate is buttressed by another of the many Coastal Ranges of California, the Vaca Mountains, and its Blue Ridge crest (average elevation 1900 ft). To the south are striking views of the highest peak in the Bay Area, Mt. Diablo (elevation 3849 ft), with the San Francisco Bay in the foreground. The climate is Mediterranean with long dry summer and autumn seasons, with gentle breezes and periodic cooling evening fog from the San Francisco Bay, with an average of 35 inches of rainfall during the winter and spring.
The ranch encompasses a 25-acre vineyard that is bifurcated into twenty-eight separate and unique mountainside vineyard blocks that are straddling a southern Howell Mountain Range bench, largely west-southwest facing. The property is within the Napa Valley AVA, directly east of Coombsville and south of Atlas Peak sub-appellations. At the southwestern base of Quantum Limit lies Wooden Valley, and on the northeast side is Gordon Valley, two bucolic agricultural jewels of the Napa Valley AVA. The vineyard is planted to both Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc varietals that straddle the volcanic hillside from 260 and 900 feet in elevation.
THE HIDDEN JEWEL OF NAPA
The southern termination of the Howell Cordillera is one of the best-kept secrets of Napa Valley, richly agricultural and undeveloped, with slightly warmer temperatures than the valley floor, or the Howell Mountain AVA, but south enough to benefit from cooling maritime fog from Carneros and the San Francisco Bay in the evening. The warm summer days are cooled by dramatic fog banks that pour over the palisades in the evening, flanked by mid-afternoon drying breezes, which often produce diurnal temperature shifts that are as much as 5 degrees lower in the evening than nearby Napa.
Grape Growers in this micro-region of Napa Valley have been quietly producing some of the finest quality red grapes in the Napa Valley AVA. Neighboring Napa vineyards and winemakers include Hestan, Antinori, Kenzo, Capp Heritage, Eagle Eye, and Altamura. Many neighboring independent growers sell Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Merlot to top wineries for their reserve wines, including Caymus, Mondavi, Hess, Pahlmeyer, and Favia. Some examples include Caymus Special Select, which is consistently rated at ~95 in the Wine Spectator judging, having won its Top 100 Wine of the Year an unprecedented two times. On the Gordon Valley side of Quantum Limit is Hestan Vineyards, whose wine maker Thomas River Brown scored the top Cabernet from the entire Napa Valley in 2017 by Wine Spectator. Nepenthes Merlot was named “One of the World’s Best” in prior reviews of the Wine Enthusiast. Eagle Eye produced the best-in-show double gold Petit Verdot in the 2014 SF International Wine Competition. Andy Erickson and Annie Favia have also discovered the hidden jewels of Wooden Valley with highly acclaimed wines derived from the area, such as the 100-point (Decanter) 2019 Cabernet Blend Cerro Sur. The emerging Suisan Valley wine district is a short drive over the Napa border.
“Overlook of The Howell Cordillera from The Quantum Limit”
James Hart Dyke 2024
JHD is the official Royal Portrait and Landscape Artist of King Charles III.