Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Hayne Vineyard comes from a site that is better known for its Petite Sirah and Zinfandel made famous by Turley Cellars. This has always been a site that produces ripe wines, and you see that with this 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon. Offering blackberry and jammy fruit flavors, it is a full-bodied, in-your-face, yet elegant and pure Cabernet that delivers lots of blue and black fruits in an All-American / All-Napa, first team sort of way. This beauty should drink well for two decades or more.
-
Wine Enthusiast
This 100% Cabernet, from the western part of St. Helena, joins the winery's prestigious vineyard portfolio. The wine is rich and opulent in blackberries, cherries, chocolate and currants, with quite a bit of new French oak and thick, yet refined tannins. The mouthfeel is soft but the alcohol adds weight. Give it time to refine. Drink 2016–2020.
Cellar Selection -
Wine Spectator
Offers graceful, supple black cherry and raspberry fruit, displaying spice, crushed rock, sage and black tea notes. Very distinctive and complete, with earth laced tannins.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
St. Helena is in the heart of the Napa Valley, nestled between Calistoga to the north and Rutherford on its southern border. On its western side, the Mayacamas Mountains guard it from the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean; to its east stand the Vaca Mountains. In conjunction, these mountain ranges serve to lock in summer daytime heat. But in the evening, cool air from the San Pablo Bay funnels up through the valley, creating very chilly nights. It isn’t uncommon for temperatures to drop 50 degrees, a shift that promotes a balance of sugar ripeness and acidity in wine grapes.
St. Helena contains a plethora of different soil types in a small area, which have been enhanced over centuries by rain runoff from both mountain ranges. Its vineyards cover a variety of terrain, spreading across the bucolic valley floor and its benchlands.
These ideal topographic and climatic growing conditions easily caught the attention of early winemaking pioneers. In fact, St. Helena is the birthplace of Napa Valley’s commercial wine industry. Dr. Crane founded his cellar in 1859, David Fulton in 1860 and Charles Krug in 1861.
Today there are no less than 400 separate vineyards planted within the 12,000 acres that make up the St. Helena appellation.
Revered most for its red wines based on Bordeaux varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, the St. Helena appellation is also a source of superior Syrah, Zinfandel and Sauvignon blanc.