Hill Family Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
We were invited over to son Alec and Vivianna's new home to watch March Madness, the Big Ten Basketball tournament as a lead up to the NCAA selection show.
As newlyweds, Alec and Vivianna visited Hill Family Estate during their forest fire shortened honeymoon in Napa a year ago September. They visited the new Hill Family Estate winery, located just minutes south of Yountville just off Ste Helena Highway 29, the western main artery of Napa Valley. They tasted this wine there and acquired it as part of their wine club allocation.
Doug
Hill founded Hill Family estate vineyards back in 1977 when he acquired his
first vineyards. Since then, eleven different vineyard locations have
been added to the Hill Family Estate portfolio, mostly in Napa Valley
and its environs now covering more than 100 acres in numerous significant
sub-appellations within Napa Valley.
For nearly four decades, the fruit was sold to the
likes of Far Niente Winery, Silver Oak Cellars, Duckhorn Vineyards,
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Caymus Vineyards, Cakebread Cellars and a host
of other winery luminaries. Hill Family grapes were considered among the finest
grown in the prestigious Napa Valley.
Around the turn of
the century, Ryan and Carly Hill approached their father with the vision to establish the family winery with the family
name on it. Hill Family Estate was born in 2001 with the first fruit that would become Hill Family Estate wines. A
total of around 980 cases were produced and released in 2004. The new brand was immediately acclaimed and gained national prominence with numerous Awards and industry plaudits.
Today, the Hill Family owns 120 acres of vineyards with properties on Atlas Peak, in Carneros, Oak Knoll and American Canyon. They are 100% family-farmed, family-owned and family-operated. Production ranges between 9,000 to 12,000 cases annually sourced from 12 different estate vineyards allowing them to select the highest quality fruit for their wines.
We've had several Hill Family Estate wines with Alec and Vivianna and I believe this may have been the best label so far.
The winemakers's notes for this release: "The 2018 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon has aromas of black currant, black cherry, violets, vanilla and pie spice. The palate is rich, with flavors of blackberry, hazelnut, raspberry and mocha. This wine has tremendous viscosity for being so young and has a lot of room to grow and integrate all the flavors."
RM 93 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3881100
https://hillfamilyestate.com/product/2018-napa-valley-cabernet-sauvignon/