Community Tasting Note

• TXRDW wrote: 95 points

  May 28, 2018 - Last bottle... best bottle. Finally lived up to the WS Top 100 hype. I was really down on this wine till this tasting. Well integrated, smooth. I’m really amazed at how improved this wine is since my last bottle. Make sure to decant and you will be rewarded.

  3 people found this helpful 4,602 views

9 Comments

• AGELVIS commented:

  5/28/18, 8:13 PM - How long was your decant? I want to do the wine justice. Cheers TXRDW!

• TXRDW commented:

  5/28/18, 8:17 PM - 2 hours. This wine is in its prime. Enjoy.

• AGELVIS commented:

  5/29/18, 6:15 AM - Very nice. I appreciate the info. Cheers!

• Tiesface commented:

  5/29/18, 1:28 PM - How can a cabernet be in its prime at age 5? I drink bordeaux not many cali cabs, but how would this be possible? Surely not much secondary development here..

• TXRDW commented:

  5/29/18, 4:19 PM - You bring up an interesting topic when you compare a Bordeaux to a Napa Cab. While they are the same grape, the growing climate, ripeness and alchohol levels are quite different, all affecting secondary development. I would suggest many Napa cabs are produced to be much more approachable early on compared to classic Bordeaux. In the case of this particular wine my opinion is that it now is entering its prime drinking window, and I’m basing my opinion on previous bottles and notes.

• Tiesface commented:

  5/30/18, 8:16 AM - Thank you for taking the time to respond. I agree it is certainly a complex comparison. I’ve had many 1970s-1990s cali cabs which were beautiful and filled with tertiary notes. Has the winemaking changed this dramatically? Perhaps.

• TXRDW commented:

  5/30/18, 9:10 AM - I think this brings up two issues: 1) Is Napa winemaking generally different than winemaking in the Bordeaux region and, 2) Do all Napa vineyards have similar philosophies on how to produce cab. In the case of Hall I would suggest their wine is produced to be approachable early on. I’m attaching a link to what I consider a very informative article on this topic that I hope you will find interesting: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sfgate.com/wine/thirst/amp/Randy-Dunn-s-Cabernet-crusade-3813953.php
  
  If you can’t pull up the link the article shows up on a Google search of: Randy Dunn’s Cabernet Crusade

• Tiesface commented:

  5/30/18, 2:42 PM - That’s a great article - thank you much for sharing. I have to say I agree with him.
  
  When I visit Napa, I find the same conclusions as him - they all taste the same. My solution has been to turn to bordeaux.

• Wine G commented:

  5/30/18, 4:11 PM - great article about Dunn...and back to Hall and the new world Napa cabs around 15% and up, which I do like all these big wines, but they do all taste the same. That's why I go with the coeur and 1873 over Jack's and the pricier offerings they have, as far as Hall goes.
  
  Definitely a good reminder to start with the lower alcohol % wines and move up from there

Add a Comment