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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 94.9 pts. and median of 95 pts. in 35 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by WI WineLover on 1/14/2024 & rated 93 points: Decanted for 3 hours. A very good wine - but pretty sure was better when just a bit younger. Had with a nice medium-rare steak. Seems more disjointed than before. (428 views) | | | Tasted by Mortgage92 on 10/1/2023 & rated 92 points: Enjoyable, nice, but 95 points....NO. I keep expecting more from the Hall Vineyards and getting less. The fruit in this wine is now at its apex and appears to be weakening. The wine was a pleasure to drink, but not over the top (95 points?), I do not believe any more bottle aging will help, but will wait, at least another year for my last bottle. Too many other good California cabs to pick. (608 views) | | | Tasted by sean7711 on 3/11/2023 & rated 95 points: Drank next to a 2012 Memento Mori. Both secured in the secondary market from BWG. Both decanted for about an hour before service, paired with dry aged bone in NY Strip and Filet.
Both bottles were excellent, I think the Hall edged it by a hair. This vintage continues to impress me at 11 years of age.
95+ (1364 views) | | | Tasted by houstonjeff@hotmail.com on 1/6/2023 & rated 95 points: still lots of life left in this one. (1055 views) | | | Tasted by Cablover1982 on 12/31/2022 & rated 95 points: 3 hour decant. Ruby to purple. Very bold and full-bodied wine. Stuffed with loads of toasted black cherries, firey cedar wood, roasted dark berries, cigar smoke, tobacco leaf and crushed stones. The fruit and the notes of earthy minerality and rocky core are very well integrated together. The wine is just a monster but it’s held together quite well. Tannins are mellow with nice finish. Cheers and happy new year. (1286 views) | | | Tasted by PDXWineO on 7/9/2022 & rated 95 points: First time trying an Exzellenz and was quite impressed. At 10 years of age it was drinking perfect. Decanted for 2 hours and consumed over 4 and the it kept getting better and better. Even at 15.2% there was no heat with a perfect balance of fruit and tannins. I have 1 more left and won’t revisit for another handful of years. (1222 views) | | | Tasted by Mdb1982 on 12/26/2021 & rated 93 points: Great wine, 2012 is drinking well right now. Dark cherries, coffee, oak flavors.
"95+ out of 100 - The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Exzellenz, which comes from their Sacrashe Vineyard in Rutherford seems more tightly knit than the Cabernet Sauvignon Kathryn Hall. Again, it seems like this fruit source of theirs in Rutherford tends to produce wines that need time in bottle. The overwhelming, extravagant, richness is certainly present, as is the vintage personality of opulence, ripeness and fabulous purity and texture. This dense purple wine is loaded, much like all its siblings, but more backward and a longer-term prospect. Forget it for five years and drink it over the next 25." - Robert M. Parker, Jr., Wine Advocate (1303 views) | | | Tasted by Quiet Lion on 7/23/2021 & rated 95 points: Decanted three hours. This is just delicious right now with silky red and black fruit, lively tannins, copious chocolate, Asian spices, ling finish. Super Rutherford Cab showing beautifully with many years ahead. (1964 views) | | | Tasted by Jerry 3 on 11/7/2020 & rated 97 points: Enjoyable for sure
Held 4 years
Red wine blend
Decanted 2 hours
Great nose, dark fruit, fantastic color & a nice long finish
Changed CT drink date guidelines from min 2019+ to 2021+
Very alive now and will hold our last bottle for 1-2 years (1764 views) | | | Tasted by Jgallup on 8/25/2018 & rated 98 points: Spectacular! Dark fruit, deep color, amazing nose, long finish. More please! (3773 views) | | | Tasted by 82Latour on 10/30/2016 & rated 97 points: A decade of exzellenz: Balance and wonderful describe this wine perfectly. Cherry, tarty red and blackberry. A touch herbacious, and deep baking spices coming around on the finish. Mid+ finish. (5556 views) | | | Tasted by beitopod on 4/14/2016 & rated 98 points: Elegant, rich blackberry, tobacco (4567 views) | | | Tasted by Sonojoe on 2/22/2016 & rated 90 points: Closed, unconcentrated, unbalanced and short mid palate tannins after 1 hr decant. Very disappointed until wine opened and started to evolve after 3 hrs. Back palate tannins emerged and overall balanced. Completely different wine after 3 hr decant. Shows potential for 94+ in 5 yrs. Hold. (4192 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Hall Producer website
Since first working in her family’s Mendocino vineyards, Kathryn Hall dreamed of a place to showcase fine wines alongside expressive art and masterful architecture. Now, Kathryn and Craig Hall are creating an unrivalled destination
in the Napa Valley—where winemaking excellence meets contemporary design to celebrate life and inspire the senses.In 2005, Craig and Kathryn Hall unveiled a state-of-the-art winery amid the legendary Sacrashe Vineyard in the hills
of Rutherford that is dedicated to making single vineyard and limited-production wines. The Halls acquired the historic Bergfeld winery in St. Helena in 2003, and are merging history and innovation with the completion of California's
First Winery to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Gold Certification.
HALL’s estate vineyards encompass more than five hundred acres of classic Bordeaux varietals; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc.
As winegrowers, the Halls have a strong respect for the environment and a commitment to cutting-edge vineyard technology to yield the highest quality grapes.
Through meticulous attention to detail in the vineyards, HALL wines are able to express the unique and diverse character of Napa Valley’s soils and climate.
A visit to Hall Rutherford Estate Napa Valley =
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2013/04/hall-napa-valley-rutherford-estate.html
Another visit to Hall Rutherford Napa Valley Estate and vineyards -
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/08/hall-rutherford-winery-estate.htmlCabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Rutherford Rutherford,
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