92 Points - Beverage Tasting Institute
Gold Medal - Winemakers' Challenge
Gold Medal - Sommelier Challenge
With so many new wine labels popping up each year, and so many older family-run wineries being sold off to big companies, it seems like a great achievement when a small winery can make it to even its ten-year anniversary. To make it to 30 years and beyond, as Hagafen Cellars has done under the original owners Ernie and Irit Weir, is truly a special accomplishment. Today we are offering Hagafen’s 2008 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a special bottling which commemorates Hagafen’s 30th anniversary.
The 2008 Napa Cabernet is sourced from the Weir Family Vineyard, from the pirzed area along Silverado Trail between Stag’s Leap and Oak Knoll that is home to so many great Cabernet vineyards. Deep ruby in color even at 6 years of age, this must have been an extremely dark wine at bottling. The nose shows classic Cabernet notes of crèmes de cases, cherry, leather and cedar. The palate shows cherry, cigar box, vanilla, and an herbal note, along with a hint of plum that may be coming from the addition of 5% Merlot. Fine grained yet still chewy tannin and spice linger on the finish. This is a marvelous Napa Cabernet, just hitting its prime drinking window now, and a bargain in a region where $40 is generally the starting point for Cabernet, let alone for one of this quality.
Vintage: 2008
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Appellation: Napa Valley
Harvest Date: September 24th, 2008
Sugar: 25.0° Brix at harvest
Acid: 6.2 g/L
pH: 3.69
Alcohol %: 13.6
95 Points
Displays a bright ruby hue. The nose reveals red cherries, bright red berries, subtle spring florals, and pie spices. On the palate, cherry cola, black tea, and liquid saline/minerals dominate, backed by vibrant, fresh acidity. It remains clean and elegant, with a young, firm structure and satiny tannin grip that suggests a decade of positive evolution in the cellar. A solid, well-made effort from this world class vineyard.
