From southern Napa, just beyond the Carneros border, this is a cool climate Cabernet. Well-etched cassis flavors are set off by fine acids and rich tannins. This wine is remarkable for its depth and complexity but also for its balance and restraint. It wisely avoids the modern tendency toward excessive size.
— S.H.
(11/15/2002)
For all its heft, and this is a heavyweight Chardonnay, it never loses its balance and harmony. Bigtime tropical fruit and spicy fig flavors are wrapped in succulently sweet, smoky oak. The creamy texture and long, rich finish make this a great wine.
— S.H.
(12/15/2004)
Considerably plumper and richer than this winery’s Camelback bottling, and the burst of tropical fruit flavors fills the mouth. It’s nicely accompanied by good acids, and the oak is enormous. Finishes with a buttery, creamy, oaky feel.
— S.H.
(12/15/2002)
Ripe, smooth and delicious, this Cab offers tiers of blackberry jam, plum sauce, chocolate, licorice and oaky spice flavors. It’s so soft, so beguiling, and despite the fruity power it’s elegantly structured. A wine to savor as it warms in the glass. It wears its high alcohol well.
— S.H.
(12/1/2006)
Very complex fruit, forward and brilliant, ranging from apples and peaches through pears to unctuous tropical fruits, and it’s set off against a lavish display of oak and lees. It’s lively in the mouth thanks to refreshing acidity.
— S.H.
(12/15/2002)
This is one of those Chards that’s more Burgundian than Californian. There’s a rich earthiness followed by a minerally date nut, dried pineapple and spiced apple character. In the end, there’s enough acidity to suggest mid-term aging.
— S.H.
(12/1/2006)
This rich, full-bodied Syrah aspires to a Northern Rhône style, with its dry, peppery flavors and smooth, rich tannins, although the sunny cherry and blackberry fruit is indisputably Napa. It’s a sumptuous, soft wine for early drinking, from veteran William Hill.
— S.H.
(12/15/2005)
From the Napa side, a bells and whistles wine bursting with notes of spent lees and toasty oak. The underlying fruit veers toward ripe peaches and green apples. Clean, complex and nuanced.
— S.H.
(12/15/2004)