1978 William Hill Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Community Tasting Notes (6) Avg Score: 93.4 points

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  7/27/2012 - uberoh wrote: 94 Points

  surprising showin in a tastng of 1978 cabs. Still good fruit, structure and impressive complexity.

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  11/27/2009 - pmevans wrote: 93 Points

  This remains the first and best vintage ever for William Hill - it still has amazing amounts of fruit (and tannin) and balance, and could easily pass for a 10-12 year old wine. Dark in color with just a little lightening at the edge. Didn't lose anything in the decanter overnight either. This is going to last for years more. Just the slightest hint of drying at the finish makes me think at some point the tannins will overtake the fruit eventually, but this isn't going to happen anytime soon. One of the best '78 cabs out there. Would merit a few more points if it had just a bit more complexity. Sounds ridiculous perhaps, but it could just need a bit more time.

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  6/8/2008 - KeithAkers wrote: 93 Points

  Karl Lawrence Vertical (wally's house, barrington IL): this wine must have been impeccably stored as the color was just amazing. Almost zero bricking
  
  nose: wonderful aged nose of black tea leaves, mushrooms, loads of smoke, cassis, and dark raspberries, and dark cranberries
  
  taste: wonderful feel that is just very smooth and polished with loads of dark red fruit, black tea leaves, green pepper tones, dill, and some mushrooms
  
  overall: a wonderful experience. This bottle was fresh and vibrant while giving off wonderful aged characteristics and it held together for a good amount of time. Great smooth dark red fruit attack that goes into a black tea mid palate and then a mushroom based finish. This was a very enlightening experience and a lot of fun to taste a california cab of this age that is still as vibrant as this bottle was

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  6/8/2008 - jordanj wrote: 92 Points

  Karl Lawrence vertical ((wally's)): The wine had a great color to it. It was a deep dark red with maybe a hue of mahogany. The nose was giving nice earthy scents of mushrooms and dirt backed by some raspberries , cranberry and other red fruits. In the mouth the wine had a smokey character that was really nice. It was almost like a tar meets campfire taste that was just delicious. There was also a leafy spice flavor along with chocolate. The flavors on the palate carried on to a long and detailed finish. The only drawback on this wine is that it is a bit lean on the mouth. No doubt this was a well stored bottle but it was a great example of well aged Napa Cabernet.

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  4/19/2008 - theusualsuspect wrote: 95 Points

  Impeccably stored for 25+ years. Perfect fill. Very impressive. Lacks the density and palate weight of many more modern Cal Cabs. More old style Bordeaux in character. Some cedar and coffee on the nose, and very complex tobacco, cigar boxey across the palate. Impressive really long finish. A real surprise.Wonderful balance and will certainly keep. Wasn't quite up to the 82 Pichon Lalande on the table, but was not even remotely blown away by it either, hence the points. Best Cal cab for me in many years.

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