Served immediately after a double decant. Cedar, plum, and fruitcake on the nose. Blue fruits and dried herbs on the palate. Nicely balanced. Double blind tasting and was completely surprised. Not your mother's Merlot.
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One of my favorite Napa Merlot. This vintage is deep purplish ruby and still so young. Wonderful aromas of plum, cassis, blueberry, baking spices, and some vanilla. Well integrated tannins but could go longer. Flavors of plum, black cherry, vanilla and a cream soda like flavor. Really feel this could easily go another decade + and be outstanding.
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Drinking great today. Elegant with toasty chocolate and dark fruit flavors. On opening it was harsh and foreboding. After 1-3 hours of air it blossoms into a beautiful bottle of wine. It should age nicely but I suspect will lose some of its' fruit characteristics. Not sure it will be as interesting a wine then, so I'd drink it now if I had more. And be advised that there was a goodly amount of sediment/debris in this bottle.
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Nose: Blueberry, Black Cherry and slight Fig note. Bit of oak, graphite and spice note as well. Palate: Dense blue/black fruit attack with vanilla bean, coffee and chocolate notes. Balanced in spite of the ripeness, high toast oak and overall size of the wine. Finish: Great fruity finish with espresso bean and oak notes.
Fight night so we wanted a bruiser of a wine, and the Hourglass delivered. Lots of pleasure, but never out of balance. Alcohol has come into check with some bottle age. I was not as pleased with earlier bottles.
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A rich and layered Merlot that offers tremendous fruit with enough structure and acidity to (mostly) keep the wine together. Dark purple in color, full in body, nose of blueberry pie and pencil lead. Tastes of black cherry, milk chocolate, rosemary, and vanilla, with a chalky and somewhat hot finish that shows the 15.4% alcohol. Blend of 85% Merlot, 11% Cabernet, and 4% Petit Verdot. This is pretty unrestrained stuff, even by California standards, but it pretty good, too. Drink in next year or two.
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Tasted with Audra at Hourglass in Calistoga. First class wine worth every penny for true expression of worlds best merlot hands down. Do yourself a favor and get a bottle or three.
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In the words of our Somm for the night, sexy. Fantastic example of Napa Merlot. Big but wonderful fruit and ready to drink now w some decanting or in 5 years w some age. Will be buying several bottles.
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Dark purple almost opaque. Nose was fruity with some oak. More substantial than most Merlots. This is big well structured wine closer to a zin than Merlots I know. Fruity with a long finish should continue to improve with age
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Clear, medium red color. Youthful aromatic nose. Dry, full body with smooth acidity and low/medium soft, round tannins. Good balanced, powerful- flavor long finish.
Overall 4/5
Price $75 Abv
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4/20/2024 - daved Likes this wine: 93 Points
needed time to open up, but then it was delightful
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9/2/2022 - cblinstrub Likes this wine: 93 Points
Fantastic merlot. Deep dark fruit spice. PnP’d but recommend letting open up for two hours before drinking
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5/1/2022 - Coachron13 Likes this wine: 90 Points
Started out a little odd, but time and air smoothed it out. A typical 2013, needs time and air to show its best.
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4/17/2022 - Rick 4 Wine wrote:
So glad i stopped buying the forgettable wines of HG.
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7/21/2021 - walkerjfw wrote: flawed
corked! real bummer, I could tell there was a nice fruit profile underneath the cork taint...
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3/22/2020 - Jonny d wrote: 94 Points
Served immediately after a double decant. Cedar, plum, and fruitcake on the nose. Blue fruits and dried herbs on the palate. Nicely balanced. Double blind tasting and was completely surprised. Not your mother's Merlot.
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2/18/2020 - TMOVino2 Likes this wine: 93 Points
One of my favorite Napa Merlot. This vintage is deep purplish ruby and still so young. Wonderful aromas of plum, cassis, blueberry, baking spices, and some vanilla. Well integrated tannins but could go longer. Flavors of plum, black cherry, vanilla and a cream soda like flavor. Really feel this could easily go another decade + and be outstanding.
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1/28/2020 - artp Likes this wine: 93 Points
Initial reaction is just wow. So much fruit. Such a pleasure.
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6/22/2019 - handymom wrote: 92 Points
Great QPR. Drinks like a high end Bordeaux.
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4/16/2019 - Tsb4107 Likes this wine: 91 Points
big bold mocha and fruit followed by smooth silky tannins. PNP but much better after 1 hour decant
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6/15/2018 - ozziewine Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drinking great today. Elegant with toasty chocolate and dark fruit flavors.
On opening it was harsh and foreboding. After 1-3 hours of air it blossoms into a beautiful bottle of wine.
It should age nicely but I suspect will lose some of its' fruit characteristics. Not sure it will be as interesting a wine then, so I'd drink it now if I had more.
And be advised that there was a goodly amount of sediment/debris in this bottle.
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8/26/2017 - RockinCabs wrote: 91 Points
Nose: Blueberry, Black Cherry and slight Fig note. Bit of oak, graphite and spice note as well. Palate: Dense blue/black fruit attack with vanilla bean, coffee and chocolate notes. Balanced in spite of the ripeness, high toast oak and overall size of the wine. Finish: Great fruity finish with espresso bean and oak notes.
Fight night so we wanted a bruiser of a wine, and the Hourglass delivered. Lots of pleasure, but never out of balance. Alcohol has come into check with some bottle age. I was not as pleased with earlier bottles.
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8/25/2017 - msuwine Likes this wine: 93 Points
A rich and layered Merlot that offers tremendous fruit with enough structure and acidity to (mostly) keep the wine together. Dark purple in color, full in body, nose of blueberry pie and pencil lead. Tastes of black cherry, milk chocolate, rosemary, and vanilla, with a chalky and somewhat hot finish that shows the 15.4% alcohol. Blend of 85% Merlot, 11% Cabernet, and 4% Petit Verdot. This is pretty unrestrained stuff, even by California standards, but it pretty good, too. Drink in next year or two.
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8/20/2017 - BigBoy_Sonoma Likes this wine: 93 Points
Blue and red fruit, herbal notes, pepper,tobacco, hints of cocoa,balanced tannins. A-/A
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4/15/2017 - Cabernetking Likes this wine: 93 Points
Tasted with Audra at Hourglass in Calistoga. First class wine worth every penny for true expression of worlds best merlot hands down. Do yourself a favor and get a bottle or three.
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8/27/2016 - Wbharris wrote: 92 Points
In the words of our Somm for the night, sexy. Fantastic example of Napa Merlot. Big but wonderful fruit and ready to drink now w some decanting or in 5 years w some age. Will be buying several bottles.
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4/4/2016 - Jwd12 wrote: 91 Points
Dark purple almost opaque. Nose was fruity with some oak. More substantial than most Merlots. This is big well structured wine closer to a zin than Merlots I know. Fruity with a long finish should continue to improve with age
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3/9/2016 - cab blends wrote: 91 Points
AHA Hearts Delight - USA Wine Tasting (101 Constitution Ave overlooking the US Capitol): I see that my score is a lot higher than my previous tasting. Less fruity than the Addax and the spiciness of the malbec comes through. Tannins (8/10)
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12/16/2015 - Thepattees Likes this wine: 92 Points
Classic Hourglass. Very nice and it should get smoother with age.
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12/8/2015 - jjschneider wrote:
Tasted at the Hourglass Winery with Todd.
Clear, medium red color. Youthful aromatic nose. Dry, full body with smooth acidity and low/medium soft, round tannins. Good balanced, powerful- flavor long finish.
Overall 4/5
Price $75
Abv
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5/24/2015 - cwardesq Likes this wine: 90 Points
Hearty, earthy Merlot. Closer to a Zin or Cab.
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4/18/2015 - Millennial Drinkers wrote: 91 Points
30th Addy Bassin's California Barrel Tasting (The Mandarin Oriental Hotel): 91+
Insanely fruity, caramel and vanilla, would love to try all the hourglasses in a few years again
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