1997 HL Cabernet Sauvignon · 미국

The ripeness of the vintage shows an intensity of blackberry, cherry and currant as well as sweet blueberry, with attractive soft tannins. Our hillside soils offer a complexity of fruit flavors with hints of chocolate, herbs, spice and leather. Paired with the sweetness of new oak, richness of fruit extraction and firmness of the tannins, this elegant wine should offer years of aging potential. The 1997 HL Cabernet Sauvignon was our first release, and we were fortunate that the 1997 vintage was hailed as one of the finest of the decade in Napa Valley winemaking. Everything seemed to go right, from the ideal weather cycle to the generous yields to the exceptional grape quality, and gave us fully mature grapes with high extract and rich fruit flavors. We had buckets of rain in 1997, causing floods throughout the Napa Valley for the second year in a row. Then dry, warm spring weather prompted an early bud break in March. The summer became a textbook season of morning fog and warm days, causing an earlier ripening than anticipated. Grape growers, who usually took family vacations in August before harvest, suddenly found themselves picking and hauling grapes instead. Two brief rainfalls in August and again in September were followed by warmer fall weather which lengthened the growing season for later ripening varieties like our Cabernet Sauvignon.