- BrandHourglass Winery
- CountryUSA
- RegionNapa Valley
- TypeRed Wine
- Size750ml
- SKU 210000020659
Hourglass Blueline Vineyard Cabernet Franc Napa Valley 2022
Hourglass Wines is a small Californian winery in Napa Valley with a reputation for limited-production Cabernet Sauvignon. It was founded in the 1990s by Jeff Smith, who took over farming the vineyard that his father Ned had planted in the 1970s.
Smith replanted the 5 acre (2 hectare) vineyard with Cabernet Sauvignon in 1992. His family had been growing and selling Zinfandel from the vineyard to local producers since 1976, but the spread of phylloxera in California in the late 1980s and early 1990s was killing the vines. Cabernet Sauvignon replaced the Zinfandel and the vineyard was named Hourglass Vineyard after the topography of the valley, shaped by the surrounding Mayacamas Range. The inaugural vintage was in 1997.
Critical Acclaim
96 Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Blueline Estate is a mostly co-fermented mix of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot, 7% Malbec, and the rest Cabernet Franc. Blackcurrants, bright black cherries, violets, and bouquet garni, as well as beautifully integrated oak, all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied on the palate, with a pure, elegant, yet concentrated style. It shows the denser, concentrated style of the vintage, yet it also holds onto a beautiful sense of finesse and elegance. There are 850 cases of this beauty, which is going to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and evolve for 20-25 years.
94 Vinous
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Blueline Estate is a heady, racy wine. Super-ripe dark cherry, tobacco, scorched earth and licorice add tons of nuance. There's a lot of Calistoga-savory/earthy intensity in this potent young Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a fine showing of a wine that came together very well in the cellar.
