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2012 Hall Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

2012 Hall Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This is a big and bold Cabernet that really does a nice job of capturing the essence of the bountiful ’12 vintage in Napa (which is one of my favorites, maybe a slight step behind ’10, but we’ll leave that for personal preferences). These ’12 Napa Cabs are still a bit young, and while this wine was incredibly enjoyable now, it would be even better in just a few more years.

We enjoyed this wine paired with NY strip steaks from the Big Green Egg, sauteed mushrooms and a baked potato. Quick tip for any Egg Heads out there.  The steak we paired with this was one of the best I’ve ever cooked on my Egg.  I used less charcoal (1/3 of the fire box full) after reading some tips from the Egg Head Forum, and was able to increase my temp to near 900 degrees to char these steaks nicely on each side.  Then I did a quick one minute bake with everything shut, and they were perfect, to die for steaks, a nice medium rare.  I seasoned with just fresh ground salt on each side and brought them all to room temperature before cooking.  Steakhouses should be worried about what an average guy can do on the Big Green Egg.  Then it gives you more money to spend on nice wine, which I did.

Ok, onto the wine.  I need to preface by stating that I have some fond memories of Hall wines.  It was my first wine when I first visited Napa.  And we had the ’10 Kathryn Hall in Vegas at a recent anniversary getaway.  So I’m a little jaded towards liking these wines, but I do believe they are quite good too, outside of just having some awesome experiences with them.

This wine pours about as dark as a wine can get; really fun nose, with floral and mint, herbs.  It’s a big boy in the mouth, full bodied, dried dark fruit, plum, cherry, blueberry with some strawberry flavors and oak and chocolate notes towards the close.  Great depth to this wine as it really digs in and sticks around.  That’s what made it a winner to pair with the steaks, but even as I enjoy a glass now after the food, the wine really permeates. Has a good dry, chalkiness to the finish that helps pull out some of that salt from the steak.

It’s not a cheap wine at $39.99, but it is a fair price for what I find to be a very nice treat in the sweet spot of Napa Cabs (above $20, below $50).

CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 91 Points

Costco item number: 293696

Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA (Kennesaw)