Hall 1873 and Oracle Napa Valley Cabernet with grilled tenderloin

Hall 1873 and Oracle Napa Valley Cabernet with grilled tenderloin 

With fellow ‘Pour Boy’ Bill, and Beth visiting from Charleston, we stay in for the evening and Linda grilled beef tenderloin , served with ceasar salad, twice baked potatoes, haricot verts and garlic bread. 

With dinner we enjoyed two ultra-premium Napa Cabernets, Miner Oracle from our Destin wine cooler, and Bill brought from his home cellar in Charleston this Hall 1873. 

Hall ”Eighteen Seventy-Three” Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

Bill acquired this through his wine club allocation from one of our favorite producers of highly acclaimed Napa Cabernets, this label commemorates the founding year of their historic Napa Valley vineyard.

The property above St Helena was originally planted to grapes by Captain William Peterson back in 1873. It was further developed such that during the 1930’s and 1940’s, it produced nearly 40 percent of Napa Valley production. 

Hall has become one of the premiere Napa Valley producers of ultra-premium Cabernets. We’ve visited the magnificent Hall Rutherford estate vineyards and winery several times as featured in these blogposts - 

Hall Rutherford Winery Estate Appellation Tasting, and 

Exzellenz and aged Robert Craig Mt Veeder for holiday celebration gathering.

Craig and Katherine Hall have built an extensive estate of vineyards that now encompass more than 300 acres of classic Bordeaux varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. They have been innovators in adopting  cutting edge technology to yield the highest quality grapes to produce a broad portfolio of highly acclaimed wines.

This label commemorates the founding of the first winery on the historic property back in 1873 when Captain William Peterson came to Napa and established a pioneering winery on their St. Helena property. Throughout the 1930’s and 40’s, the site grew to become Napa’s most important winery, producing nearly 40% of its entire vintage. 

This Hall ”Eighteen Seventy-Three” is a blend of fruit taken mostly from sites in the eastern hillsides of Napa Valley from the mountain slopes that frame Napa Valley along the northern edge of the Vacca Mountains from Howell Mountain to the north, Rutherford where the Hall Estate is located, and Atlas Peak to the South. 

We took this an earlier vintage of this label BYOB to a wine dinner recently that was rated 98 points by Wilford Wong of Wine.com, and 95 points by Wine Enthusiast, featured in these pages in this post - Preview Night Dinner at The Belmont Naperville. 

This release was rated 93 by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 92 points by Vinous and 91 points by Wine Enthusiast.

Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker Notes - “Deep garnet color. Complex fruit aromas of ripe blackberry, subtle warm oak and plum. On the palate, pronounced flavors of dark fruit, cocoa nib, wet stone, and baking spice are supported by firm, structured tannins and bright acidity round out the powerful finish.”

Dark blackish garnet colored, full bodied, round forward concentrated bright expressive vibrant rich ripe blackberry and black currant fruits with expressive notes of black tea and cinnamon with notes of creme de cassis, bitter dark chocolate, tobacco and oak with expressive plush tannins and bright acidity on a huge spicy finish. 

RM 93 points

https://go.cellartracker.com/wine/2602610

https://www.hallwines.com/

https://go.cellartracker.com/wine/3555904

Miner Family Winery "The Oracle" Napa Valley Bordeaux Blend 2021 

This is another wine we have fun with since our son works for Oracle, the enterprise software giant. Also, Linda’s hometown, Delphi, Indiana high school mascot and sports teams were the Oracles. 

This wine's name pays homage to founder Dave Miner and his former career as a founder of Oracle Software, and the ancient Greek concept of an oracle as a source of inspiration.

We served and wrote about this Miner Family Winery flagship “Oracle” Cabernet which was a hit last spring at a neighborhood gathering in a blogpost at that time , excerpted here. 

Miner Family Winery was founded by Dave Miner with their first vintage in 1996. Dave was born in Chicago and then lived in Southern California for a number of years, graduating from the University of California, San Diego with degree in English and American Literature. It was during this time that he became interested in wine. 

Dave was working for then upstart Oracle in software sales when his uncle Bob Miner, who happened to be one of the co-founders of Oracle, was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer and passed away prematurely in 1994 at age 52. In his final days, Bob asked Dave to help him manage the operations at the family vineyards and winery Oakville Ranch, (predecessor to Oracle Family Winery). Dave quit his sales job and joined Oakville Ranch which at the time owned the property that is now Miner Family Winery. At the time they made a limited amount of wine and operated a custom crush facility. Miner Family Wines was one of their clients. We still hold several vintage labels of Oakville Ranch in our home cellar which we have featured in this blogposts such as this one - Oakville Ranch Vineyard Napa Cabernet.

In 1999 Dave and his wife Emily (who worked at Oakville Ranch) purchased the winery and accompanying 18 acres. They were not able to plant vineyards on their steep hillsides due to the county ordinance prohibiting new vineyards on slopes greater then 20%, they opted to install solar cells instead – some 1,750 panels. Miner Family only owns 1/2 acre of vineyards; a tiny vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon planted in front of the winery. They source premium grapes for their wines from partner growers mainly in Napa Valley. 

The Minor winery is located just above the valley floor – high enough in elevation that one has panoramic views looking over the vines to the west and the Mayacamas mountain range. 

This is the flagship of the Miner porfolio of Bordeaux and Burgundian wines, several Chardonnays and some Pinot Noirs. They also produce some Rhone style wines based on Rhone varietals, and some other varietal wines, not typically produced in Napa Valley.  These wines include Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Sangiovese and Tempranillo, as well as the traditional Napa Valley Bordeaux varietals.

This flagship Oracle label is a Bordeaux blend produced from select premium Bordeaux varietals sourced from prime eastern Napa Valley hillside locations, including the renowned Stagecoach Vineyard and Volker Eisele Vineyard.

The 2021 release is a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot.

It was aged 22 Months in 60% new French oak. 3,586 6-packs were produced. 

This released was rated 94 points by James Suckling and 93 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.

Winemaker Notes - Miner Family's flagship wine, a full-bodied, red blend, grants a nod toward elegance. This Bordeaux-style blend is silky, reserved and supremely balanced. Lush aromatics of raspberry and dark cherry with a hint of eucalyptus, The Oracle is decadent, but with finesse. Earthiness and layers of dried flowers and cocoa integrate harmoniously into a finely balanced marriage between tannin and acid, providing the structure that ensures, like all impeccable beauties, this wine is sure to age gracefully.

Deep garnet-purple colored, full bodied, complex and concentrated, tightly structured yet elegant, nicely balanced and polished, black raspberry, blackberry and blueberry fruits accented by notes of cassis, dark chocolate, black tea, black olive and hints of leather and lavender, with firm, fine-grained tannins, on the long fragrant finish.

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?5087056

https://minerwines.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/21Oracle.pdf

https://minerwines.com/