2014 HALL Cabernet Sauvignon Rainin Vineyard

From a site on Diamond Mountain, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Rainin Vineyard is as black and inky as it gets, yet offers profound elegance and purity. Cassis, blueberries, liquid rock, graphite, scorched earth and white flower notes all flow to a massive Cabernet Sauvignon that stays balanced, pure, silky and elegant, with building tannin. This beauty is off the charts, and unquestionably one of the greats of the vintage. One of the eye-opening tastings while working on this report was the lineup from Kathryn Hall’s estate located in St. Helena. There’s a wealth of wines here, yet they all have deep, concentrated, pure profiles as well as singular characters. You could pretty much randomly select from this lineup and be guaranteed to have a brilliant wine. Hats off to winemaker Steve Leveque. All the 2016s, and the majority of the 2015s, were tasted as barrel samples.

Very deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Rainin Vineyard has a beguiling nose of menthol, lilacs, chocolate box and lavender over a core of blueberry compote, blackberry preserves and smoked meat, plus wafts of bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Big, rich, concentrated and with seriously intense perfumed fruit in the mouth, it has a firm, seamless structure of grainy tannins and lively acidity, finishing with epically long-lasting savory and spice notions.