2012 Hall Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon

Hall is a 500-hundred acre estate in the Rutherford Hills of Napa Valley. It was established in 2003 when Craig and Kathryn Hall acquired the historic Bergfeld Winery and then remade it into a state-of-the-art facility certified by LEED, of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a national green building program. Before getting into the wine business, Craig Hall founded the Dallas-based Hall Financial Group and was a part-owner in the Dallas Cowboys. Kathryn Hall comes from a Mendocino grape growing family and served as U.S. Ambassador to Austria from 1997 to 2001. Winemaker is Steve Leveque, who was previously winemaker at Chalk Hill Estate in Sonoma. The estate makes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. Robert M. Parker Jr. has complimented the estate’s wines, noting that “this is definitely another serious player in the Napa Valley.”

Stags Leap District AVA in southern Napa Valley has a storied history. It is home to Stag’s Leap Cellars, whose 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon won the famous Judgment of Paris blind tasting that included several of Bordeaux’s most exalted First Growths. Vineyards were started in area in the late 19th century, but the district’s rise in prestige started in the late 1960s when Nathan Fay planted Cabernet Sauvignon. Fay later sold his estate to Warren Winiarski, founder of Stag’s Leap Cellars. The district was given its own AVA designation in 1989, and today there are 1,400 vineyard acres. The AVA is especially notable because it was the first in the U.S. to be granted AVA status based on terroir. Its distinctive soils is a mix of volcanic soils, river sediment and loamy clay-like soil. Because the soils don’t retain water well, vineyards in Stag’s Leap tend to grow fruit with great intensity and flavor. Cabernet Sauvignon accounts for 95% of the grapes planted in Stags Leap.

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.