Winemaker Notes
With its plum, pomegranate and fresh raspberry aromatics complementedby subtle notes of baking spice and toasty oak, the 2016 Hayne VineyardCabernet captivates from the start. Supple red fruit flavors give way toplush tannins that envelop the entire palate before slowly moving into along and mouthwatering finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Hayne Vineyard is beautiful, with an elegant, complex style in its blue (and some red) fruits, lavender, spring flowers, and Asian spice aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied, with a lively, fresh style on the palate, it's certainly not a blockbuster but has purity, elegance, and length.
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James Suckling
There is an impressive sense of polish to this pure cabernet sauvignon with ripe blackberry and blackcurrant aromas and flavors, delivered in attractively pure, neatly ripened style.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Hayne Vineyard (100% Cabernet) gives up cassis, kirsch, plums and spice box with cigars and cedar plus hints of lilacs. The palate is medium to full-bodied, fresh and elegant with firm, grainy tannins and a soft-spoken intensity.
Rating: 93+ -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: While I often state that Napa Valley Cabernet is powerful, I have found the emerging St. Helena AVA to be quite elegant. TASTING NOTES: This wine delivers without overpowering the senses. Its aromas and flavors of red and blue fruits are showy and bright. Pair it with a grilled lemon-pepper accented pork chop. (Tasted: January 11, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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.