Hall Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Hall Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 

For pairing with left-over BBQ ribs from the other night, with sweet corn and baked potatoes and some artisan cheeses, I pulled from the cellar this Hall Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. The bright vibrant fruit was a perfect pairing with the dinner. 

Our visits to the Hall Rutherford Estate have been highlights of several of our Napa Valley Wine Experiences dating back to 2003.

 As members of the Hall Wine Club we acquired many labels of their allocated premium labels. We've attended several Hall wine tasting events including their release tour tasting in Chicago hosted by none other than owner producer Kathryn Hall (right).

 Hall have built an incredible franchise and brand with their multiple Napa Valley winery locations and their broad portfolio of labels including numerous premium and ultra-premium highly rated labels. This is Hall's 'basic' bottling of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  Fruit for this label is sourced from select fruit from across Napa Valley from Hall's organically farmed estate vineyards featured prominently, as well as fruit from partner growers' hillside sites. Praise from Robert Parker: "Hall has quickly become one of the great superstars in the Napa Valley firmament."

According to our Journal of Tasting Notes, we posted no less than ten different tasting notes for this vintage release dating back to 2010 including this mini-vertical tasting of multiple vintages we took from our cellar to our BNB vacation home in the outer banks for a family vacation.  At that time I wrote that "My Cellartracker records indicated we've consumed eight of the baker's dozen we acquired of this vintage of this wine and shows five tasting notes to date."

Hall Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Back in 2013 and then again in 2015 I gave this label 93 points. This time and the most recent tasting back in February I gave this 92 points, indicating the bright vibrant fruits are starting to give way subtly to the non-fruit accents cited below.

At fourteen years, this is drinking as well as ever, probably at the apex of its drinking profile, not showing any signs of diminution whatsoever, but not likely to improve further with any more aging. 

 Consistent with earlier tasting notes when I wrote, "Dark garnet colored, medium to full bodied, a symphony of flavors accented by bold expressive black berry and black raspberry fruits with highlights of anise and mocha with tones of cedar, sweet toasty oak and clove spice and hints of earthy leather turning to a smooth polished lingering finish."

After being opened a day, this is predominant anise licorice and smoke on the black berry fruit with hints of cedar and clove spice on the finish.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=761928

http://www.hallwines.com/visit/winery-experiences/rutherford-tours