10/7/21, 4:55 PM - How was the 2012 drinking?
11/8/17, 5:01 AM - Mark1npt,I hope you are right! I have moved cross country since I purchased the wine, but the wine was handled by a very professional company who ONLY moves wine and only in small vans that are chilled. It is possible that somewhere (maybe even in my own hands) something happened to cause the wine to not show at it's best. I have noticed that I am more sensitive than others to TCA, so there may have been some of that going on, but not enough to be outright tainted.Have you had any of the '07 mountain cabs recently? I'd be curious to get your take on how they are holding up.
2/20/17, 9:17 AM - I was mainly thinking of August Briggs, Rombauer, Ehlers, and Frank Family in the direct vicinity, but I think in my head I had Larkmead farther down the Valley. The '08s from Hall, Sullivan, Vine Cliff, and Long Meadow Ranch have been particularly good and I was comparing the Larkmead mainly to these last few.
7/5/16, 6:27 PM - Csimm1161,That is a very fair assessment, and I would completely agree with you on multiple comments. Here are my thoughts on Hall wines in general.First, I would say that yes, the Diamond Mountain bottling seems to be lagging just short of the powerhouse Howell and Veeder bottlings in recent vintages. My love affair with the Diamond started when my wife and I went to the winery for our honeymoon (in 2008) and had a flight of their high end cabs; K. Hall, Diamond, Howell, and Segassia Vinyard (now bottled as Veeder) all from the 2007 vintage. While all were great wines, the Diamond was the “showiest” at the time with a very distinct melted dark chocolate component to the palate in addition to the other bells and whistles. I would have to say, however, the Veeder and Howell bottlings do edge out the Diamond in my preference lineup in recent years. I am lucky enough to be able to say that 9 out of 10 times I’ve had the Segassia/Veeder the first words out of my mouth are “Holy $&!#! That’s incredible!”Second, Hall has an issue with the number of bottlings they produce. My wife and I are Partners in Hall and early on all the Partners voted to reduce the sheer number of different bottlings to make it easier on the consumer. Well, we see how long that lasted! They now have more bottlings of Cabernet than they did when the partners cast that vote! Third, Hall has had a significant amount of “price creep” over the past 8 or so years. Not that they don’t deserve it; the scores have consistently been outstanding! But while $160 for a bottle of 96-100 point Cabernet is a relative steal in Napa, it is still $160. Will I keep drinking it? As long as my wife (who also loves these wines), my credit card company, and Hall all agree to let me keep drinking it I will!Talking specifically about wines that have been produced in more than 3 vintages, I am a fan of nearly everything they produce. The “standard” Napa Cab bottling is very good, year in, year out and can often be had at a discount at local wine stores (if they don’t have it, ask them to carry it!). I am more of a fan of the Ellie’s cab than the Jack’s Masterpiece despite the fact most of the scores lean in the latter’s direction. The Kathryn Hall is really great wine year after year and tends to sneak up on you. By that I mean you may have a given year and think, “Huh, that’s pretty good.” And proceed to avoid drinking others from the same year because it was just “pretty good”. Then you will open one up two or three years after you had the first and think, “Wow! Did I miss all this the last time?” I have been surprised by that wine more than any other in the portfolio. I hope all this helps rather than adds to the confusion!Best,Robert
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