Napa Valley

• Atlas Peak
• Best of Napa
• Calistoga
• Conn Valley
• Diamond Mountain
• Howell Mountain
• Mt. Veeder
• Oak Knoll
• Oakville
• Pope Valley
• Rutherford
• Spring Mountain
• St. Helena
• Stags Leap
• Yountville

This includes 1% Merlot in the blend.  Purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is classic with cassis, slight tobacco, spice, chocolate and char.  Full bodied.  Medium to firm tannins.  Good balance and acidity.  On the palate, this drinks easy.  The fruit is somewhat concentrated with flavors of cassis, plums, slight dry forest floor, chocolate and spice.  Good finish.  This should be cellared for a few years and then drink for eight to twelve after that.  Nice on its own, this will work with with meat or fowl based dishes.  BBQ Chicken would be a good choice.   

It was great to try this wine.  I was a buyer of this wine for a long time, but, it kind of fell off my radar (there are only so many high end bottles I can buy), but this is one to revisit.  It is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc.  purple in color, opaque and shimmering bright.  The nose has cassis, cedar, blueberries, cloves, baking spices and slight char.  Full bodied.  Firm tannins.  Good balance.  On the palate, this is young but delicious.  Great texture.  Flavors of cassis, blueberries and black cherries with some cedar and spice.  Long finish.  This is deep a

Bottle No.

Probably my favorite Napa Syrah.  It is made at the top of Mt.

This is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot from Napa.  Purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is great with black cherries, chocolate, tobacco, spice and earth.  Full bodied.  Firm tannins.  Great energy.  On the palate, this is delicious.  Flavors of black cherries, cherries, forest floor and char.  Long finish.  This is deep and complex.  The layers unwind in the glass.  Still drinking youthfully, this should drink well for another fifteen to twenty years.  Great on its own, this is very food friendly.  It would work very well with Beef Stroganoff. 

Medium golden in color, clear and bright.  Nice nose with lemon cream, slight pineapple, vanilla and some minerality.  Full bodied.  Bigger texture.  Good balance.  On the palate, this has a bit of oak showing but is quite tasty.  Flavors of lemons, pineapple, vanilla, spice and char.  Long finish.  Another year or two should help this come together.  Drink over the next ten to twelve years.  Very nice on its own, this would work well with many foods.  A nice choice for Lobster but also a stir fried Tofu and vegetables dish.  

Plush is not a usual descriptor for a wine, however this Cabernet is like velvet; smooth, silky, tactile, luxurious…effortless. The moderately tight tannic structure supports black cherry, boysenberry, blueberry and huckleberry fruit notes, while the wood influence provides a sense of stability, almost like a guardrail, keeping the fruit, acidity and tannins in check. This is one of those wines that when you drink it you are reminded of how different iterations of Cabernet can be, and at this moment, the polished feel of this wine is like an old friend, comfortable and welcomed.

One of the best 20`17 Napa Cabs I have tried.  Inky purple in color, opaque and shimmering bright.  The nose has cassis, cedar, tobacco, char and spice.  Full bodied.  Firm tannins.  Great balance.  On the palate, this is delicious.  Flavors of cassis, some black cherries, with a nice earthiness and a touch of char.  Long finish.  This has a nice depth and complexity and unwinds in the glass.  It will still gain more with further cellaring.  Drink over the next ten to fifteen years.  Great on its own, this will work with meat, fowl or veggies.  A nice wine with a grilled steak off the grill

Having tasted this as a barrel sample, it was nice to get to taste this from bottle.  Of course, it is young, but at age six, it is showing very well.  Purple  in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is concentrated but big with cassis, slight graphite, char, and spice.  Full bodied.  Firm tannins.  Good energy.  On the palate, cassis, graphite, chocolate, spice and char.  Delicious.  Long finish.  This is drinking well but it will easily go another ten to fifteen more years.  Great on its own, this will work well with big meat or roasted vegetables.  

Whitehall Lane Winery has a focus on red wines, more Cabernet driven wines. This 2019 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Zinfandel offers notes of blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, boysenberry, and huckleberry. The fruit is fully structured by moderate to mature tannins, the use of judicious oak, and a mild acidity. There are back notes of vanilla, sandalwood, and light campfire. This is definitely a food friendly red wine to pair with a various dishes, but it’s also a wine that makes you remember how good Napa wines can be when they’re treated with restraint.