2011 HALL Cabernet Sauvignon Bergfeld

Hall's 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Bergfeld is beautifully resonant from start to finish. Black cherries, graphite, mint, cloves and violets literally jump from the glass. The 2011 is rich and also vibrant on the palate, with terrific energy, cut and focus, not to mention terrific overall balance.

The 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Bergfeld offers an attractive blackberry-scented bouquet as well as jammy sweet fruit. I was surprised by the degree of ripeness, richness and personality it possessed for a 2011. It should drink well for a decade. I tasted eight cuvees of 2010 Cabernet Sauvignons from Hall. I will write abbreviated notes on the eight 2012s I tasted, which is a great vintage in Napa. Based on my experience with the Hall wines, they show better from bottle than from barrel samples, always a sign of a high quality winery. All of these wines possess splendid opaque blue/purple colors. A remarkable thing about all of Hall’s 2012s is that they should be accessible when released given the sweetness of the tannins, yet they should have 20-30-year drinking windows. Congratulations to Kathryn Hall. I have been high on her wines since I first tasted them in the offices of David Ramey. It is rewarding to see that she is realizing the enormous potential that accompanied her debut wines. Tel. (707) 967-2626