2011 Hourglass Cabernet Sauvignon Estate

The medium-bodied 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate’s red and obsidian soils reveals some of the vintage’s lightness and forest floor characteristics along with a hint of bay leaf. It’s good, but for this price it is not terribly exciting. Tony Biagi, who did some terrific work at the Plumpjack winery, has joined Jeff Smith at Hourglass winery where their goal is to keep the estate wines at a high level and upgrade the Blue Line part of the portfolio that emerges from further north in Calistoga. The Blue Line group of wines performed well, obviously with the 2011s less interesting than the 2012s, although, atypically, I did like the 2011 Merlot Blue Line better than the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Blue Line and 2011 Cabernet Franc Blue Line. Tel. (707) 968-9332