Reviews of wines and spirits for the curious drinker.
Beau Vigne Signature Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Beau Vigne, pronounced “bo-veenya” and meaning “beautiful vineyard” in French, is a boutique winery located in Napa Valley, California. Founded in 1999 by Napa native Ed Snider and his wife Trish, with its first vintage release in 2002, the winery has established a reputation for producing exceptional wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon.
Kathryn Walt Hall has a most impressive curriculum vitae. To touch on just a few of the high points, she is the proprietor of HALL Wines and WALT Wines [family businesses she has been involved with for over thirty years], was assistant city attorney in Berkeley, California, worked as an attorney and businesswoman in Dallas, Texas, and has served on numerous non-profit and institutional boards, with an emphasis on issues related to social care and mental health. From 1997 to July 2001, Ms. Hall served as the United States Ambassador to Austria. In the midst of this, together with her husband Craig she has raised four children.
Kathryn Hall Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
Kathryn Walt Hall has a most impressive curriculum vitae. To touch on just a few of the high points, she is the proprietor of HALL Wines and WALT Wines [family businesses she has been involved with for over thirty years], was assistant city attorney in Berkeley, California, worked as an attorney and businesswoman in Dallas, Texas, and has served on numerous non-profit and institutional boards, with an emphasis on issues related to social care and mental health. From 1997 to July 2001, Ms. Hall served as the United States Ambassador to Austria. In the midst of this, together with her husband Craig she has raised four children.
Padis Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
Padis Vineyards is located in the picturesque hillsides of the Oak Knoll District in the heart of Napa Valley. It was founded by jewelers Steve and Judy Padis with a single barrel in 2007 that was bottled in large format and donated to charity auctions. A year later, their first commercial vintage was released.
Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Inglenook was founded in 1879 by Finnish sea captain Gustave Niebaum. By 1887, he had amassed a total of 1100 contiguous acres, marking the inception of the Inglenook legacy. After his death and during the scourge of Prohibition the winery was shuttered. After repeal, Niebaum’s widow, Suzanne, reopened Inglenook and brought in viticulturist and enologist John Daniel Jr., Niebaum’s great-nephew, to upgrade the winemaking system.
Eric and Amy Gale are the owners and sole full-time employees of Anchored Roots, Door County, Wisconsin’s newest winery, founded in 2020.
The couple make an ideal front-of-house/back-of-house duo. Amy grew up in Milwaukee, with hospitality at the forefront of her career path. Her initial focus was event planning, from non-profit fundraisers and catering, to corporate events and weddings. This was followed by experience in tasting room management at Airfield Estates in Prosser, Washington.
Paul Hobbs Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
It all began on a modest orchard in upstate New York. Paul Hobbs, one of eleven children, was raised on a family-run farm where the rhythm of planting, harvesting, and selling crops at farmers markets before school was the norm. These early experiences not only instilled in him the discipline required for farming, but also introduced him to the concept of terroir—a philosophy that would later become the cornerstone of his winemaking career.
Disclaimer: I’ve been a member of the Clos Pegase wine club for years, so this post is hardly impartial.
Clos Pegase was founded by Jan Shrem in 1983 on a 50-acre vineyard near Calistoga in Napa Valley. He was born in Colombia in 1930 to Jewish-Lebanese parents, and spent his childhood in Jerusalem and his early adolescence back in Colombia. After he arrived in the United States at age 16, he attended the University of Utah and UCLA. While in college, he sold encyclopedias.
Penfolds Bin 704 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Until Yellow Tail precipitated the boom in “critter wines” in 2000, it can be argued that Penfolds was just about synonymous with Australian wine in the U.S. The label is ubiquitous here, in both grocery stores and fine wine shops. Prices range from about $12 per bottle for the Koonunga Hill Shiraz-Cabernet, to $850 for the legendary Grange, and everything in between. (That $850 is doubly amazing, because just five or six years ago Grange was “only” about $200.) The selections are mostly reds plus a few whites and even a tawny Port.
Founders Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold immigrated to Australia from England in 1844, bringing their own French vine cuttings. Not long after, their fledgling vineyard was officially established as the Penfolds wine company at the 500-acre Magill Estate in Adelaide.
The Penfolds were believers in the medicinal benefits of wine, and they planned to concoct a wine tonic for the treatment of anemia. Initially, they produced fortified wines in the style of Sherry and Port for Dr Penfold’s patients. The operation enjoyed early growth, and since Dr Penfold was focused on his medical practice, much of the running of the winery was delegated to Mary Penfold, including the cultivation of the vines and wine blending. On Christopher’s death in 1870, Mary assumed total responsibility for the winery. According to one historical account, by that time the business had “grown to over 60 acres with several different grape varieties including Grenache, Vverdelho, Mataro (aka Mourvedre), Frontignac and Pedro Ximenez,” and the estate was “producing both sweet and dry red and white table wines with a growing market in the eastern Australian colonies of Victoria and New South Wales.” Clarets and Rieslings were especially popular. Continue reading “Penfolds Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon”
Whitehall Lane Leonardini Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Napa Valley settlers were drawn to the gravelly loam soils and ideal climate over 150 years ago, planting high-quality grapevines at what is now the Whitehall Lane Winery site. The estate vineyards, located in the Rutherford Appellation, stand testament to the enduring allure of the region’s quality soils.
Hardys Tintara Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Nestled within the picturesque McLaren Vale wine region in South Australia, Hardys Tintara winery stands as a testament to the rich history and enduring legacy of Australian winemaking. Established in 1861 by the visionary Dr. Alexander Charles Kelly, Tintara has weathered the test of time, producing wines that have not only earned global acclaim but have also become an integral part of Australia’s winemaking narrative.
Dr. Alexander Kelly, a physician and winemaker, laid the foundation for Tintara in 1861, incorporating it the following year as the Tintara Vineyard Company. A man of diverse talents, Kelly authored seminal texts on Australian winemaking and viticulture, solidifying his place in the annals of wine history. Notable figures in the early history of South Australia, such as Walter Watson Hughes, Samuel Davenport, and Thomas Elder, invested in Tintara, recognizing its potential to become a cornerstone of the burgeoning Australian wine industry.
Smith & Hook Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Located in California’s Central Coast, the Smith Ranch was a horse ranch for generations, while to the south, the Hooks raised cattle. Swiss-born Nicolaus “Nicky” and Gaby Hahn discovered these ranches near Paso Robles in 1974 as they searched for the ideal place to grow Cabernet Sauvignon. They decided that the climate along the western slopes of the Santa Lucias was just what they were looking for, so in 1974 they purchased the two ranches and established the Smith & Hook Winery on the old Smith Ranch. The first Cabernet Sauvignon was made in 1979, released in 1980, and quickly developed a reputation for excellence.
Beaulieu Vineyard Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Beaulieu Vineyard is one of California’s oldest and most celebrated wineries. It was established by Georges de Latour and his wife Fernande in 1900, and is situated in the Rutherford AVA in Napa Valley.
De Latour was born October 20, 1856, in Bordeaux, France. At the age of twenty-six, he immigrated to San Francisco, where he was employed as a chemist from 1884 to 1888, later settling in San Jose in the early 1890s. He ran a cream of tartar business there for use in baking powder. After neighbors complained of the smell from his factory, he and his wife moved to Healdsburg in Sonoma County, before finally settling in Napa, where the De Latours Initially purchased four acres (1.6 ha) of land. Legend has it that when Fernande first saw the property she exclaimed, “Quel beau lieu!” which translates to English as “What a beautiful place!” And so the place was named.
Continue reading “Beaulieu Georges De Latour Cabernet Sauvignon”
Waypoint Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
I couldn’t find anything about this wine. Their website is nonexistent, and there is even a totally different Waypoint line from Napa now on the market. Too bad, because this wine was really good. Pick up a few bottles if you stumble across them.
This Cabernet is the correct dark red color, with just a tinge of brick; it is seven years old, after all. The nose opens with dark, rich fruit. On the palate, there is a full mouthfeel, with flavors of blackberry, baked plum, dark cocoa, and tart red currant. The well-structured tannins, oak backbone, and just-so acidity offer great balance, making for a really appealing glass of Cabernet. ABV is a robust 15.4%.
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Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville 2017
In 1881, Josephine Marlin Tychson and her Danish husband, John, traveled from Pennsylvania to St. Helena in the hope of alleviating his tuberculosis and becoming vintners. They purchased 147 acres of property just north of town from a retired sea captain, William Sayward, who had earlier bought the land from Charles Krug. They planted Zinfandel, Riesling, and “Burgundy” vines on the estate. Five years later, Tychson Cellars was established, but not before John’s despair over his affliction caused him to kill himself.