This wine is deep garnet in color while emanating aromas of black fruits, bacon fat, liquorice, and barbequed meats. The palate confirms a big meaty character, concentrated with a rustic, well balanced acidity, tannin, and minerally finish.
The 2013 Darwin exemplifies the characteristics of cool climate Syrah, emanating a nuanced perfume of ripe mission fig, charcuterie, creosote bush and crushed rocks. The rich, concentrated palate is ripe yet refreshing with a tertiary flavor of Medjool dates. This wine is loaded with personality and finishes on a beautiful note of minerality.
Vintage and Winemaker Notes
This unique wine is named for the town of Darwin, Australia, where Kathryn and Craig’s small plane required an emergency landing. Once safely on the ground, the Halls toasted their well-being with an Aussie Shiraz/ Cabernet blend and pledged to craft a similarly poignant wine in the Napa Valley.
Temperatures were moderate and slightly cooler in 2013, providing the opportunity to harvest according to our winemaker’s preferences and not the weather conditions. The 2013 vintage wines are extremeley concentrated in their textural richness. They showcase massive personalities and should be extremely long lived.
Winery: Hall Wines
Location: Napa Valley, CA
Winemaker: Steve Leveque
Since first working in her family’s Mendocino vineyards, Kathryn Hall dreamed of a place to showcase fine wines alongside expressive art and masterful architecture. Now, Kathryn and Craig Hall are creating an unrivalled destination in the Napa Valley - where winemaking excellence and innovation meets contemporary design to celebrate life and inspire the senses.
The Halls acquired the historic St. Helena Bergfeld Winery in 2003 and re-opened as HALL St. Helena in July of that year. With a rich history spanning 150 years, HALL St. Helena’s location was once the home of the Napa Valley Co-Op, producing 40% of Napa Valley’s wines. In 2013, The Hall family completed the restoration of the 1885 Bergfeld Winery and merged history and innovation with the completion of California’s first LEED® Gold Certified winery, in addition to a stunning Visitor Center and state-of-the-art gravity flow winemaking facility.
In addition to the impressive St. Helena winery and tasting room, HALL Rutherford, which was purchased in 1995 with the Grand Opening in March, 2005, boasts a state-of-the-art winery amid the legendary Sacrashe Vineyard in the hills of Rutherford that is dedicated to making single vineyard and limited-production wines. Both locations provide a memorable wine country experience – tasting through award-winning wines, embracing incredible contemporary art and taking in the vistas.
HALL’s estate vineyards encompass more than 500 acres of classic Bordeaux varietals; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc. As winegrowers, the Halls have a strong respect for the environment and a commitment to cutting-edge vineyard technology to yield the highest quality grapes. Through meticulous attention to detail in the vineyards, HALL wines are able to express the unique and diverse character of Napa Valley’s soils and climate. Under the artisan-ship of winemaker Steve Leveque, HALL Wines continue to set new heights in Napa Valley winemaking. We invite you to discover HALL!
Apparently Hall is not sourcing from this vineyard any longer. i believe it’s the last of it’s kind from Hall. Reminds me of the Iron Horse red (T-Bar BDX?) from long ago in a website far far away.
@Winedavid49 I recall it was the T-Bar-T Cabernet Franc. I still have one last bottle of the 2005, and I don’t think I’m going to hold off much longer - it will soon be consumed.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2013 HALL Wines Darwin Syrah - $80 = 28.56%
Any chance the winery could make a little magic happen for this Ohioan since were off the list? Visited the winery in December. Very festive and unique Christmas trees and of course, great offerings. (Ask for Celeste!!) Found out I have one of the last bottles of Cabernet produced from the Segassia vineyard which was unfortunately decimated during the wildfires of a couple years ago.
@shrimp74 Thanks for visiting and for the shout out to Celeste! She’s terrific and I’m glad you came by the tasting room. The Segassia Mount Veeder Cabernet is one of my favorite wines - you did well on your trip.
Regarding Ohio shipping, we’re looking to update that permit , but for this offer the state didn’t respond quickly enough. Crossing our fingers we will get a response soon.
@shrimp74 Great hearing from you, and tell your girlfriend hello and thank you for being a member. The permit is in the process of being reissued, and we’re waiting to hear from the state. Unfortunately it didn’t work for timing on Casemates.
You are correct that this is an amazing price. Darwin at a member discount is $49.50, so in this offer you receive 2.5 bottles for the same price.
@Mar6867@NatasG Darn! I ordered already and paid a buck a bottle for fast/cool shipping. w/tax it was $242. If you want 3 at that price…excellent. I already owe you lots.
Helluva deal. Have visited many a time and pretty much enjoy the lineup. I’ve had this wine in a tasting setting, been awhile. No notes or anything but not a subtle wine. So while not spending serious time with it have to admit not noticing the octane. With a little age though that can become more noticeable, not saying it has. The couple recent CT notes don’t mention it. Rattage?
Little late off the tee, but here goes: Upon PnP, nice dark red color. Bit of a hot nose to it. One dinner guest said smells like bread yeast. Initial taste had sweet red fruit, but not a sweet taste, if that’s possible. Second pour after a short airing and the alcohol had blown off some, with a taste of red liquorice coming in. Second day, after sitting on the counter vaccu-stopped, the primary taste was very ripe red fruit without much of the spice a Syrah can often have. Not subtle is an apt descriptor. With the change in taste to super-ripeness in one day, I’d guess long cellaring is not called for.
Wife, who prefers sweeter reds, like this. Not into auto-buy category for me, but a good daily drinker or party wine.
The wizards at Casemates predicted that the 110 Las Vegas heat will be 98 with overcast when this bottle arrived. It was really warm, the ice pack did not survive death valley. I stick this guy in an incubator to cool down and nap while my temperature paranoia lurks. Thinking it’s pretty hot outside, bbq beef brisket and baked beans sounds about right.
Hall Darwin 2013 Syrah
Napa Valley
Day 1- Decanted 45+min
Color: Garnet - Clear(little sediment towards end).
Nose: A strong waft of dark fruit, slight vanilla/mocha, and rain?
Taste: Dark fruits on the nose, boysenberry or blackberry jam, dried cherries, currants, pepper.
Finish: Smooth yet dry, medium tannins, slight minerality. There is a noticeable presence of oak.
Day 2 + Impressions: There was no improvement on the second day. The fruits faded behind the alcohol on the nose. The taste switched to that rain note I found on the nose, faded dried cherries. This needs to be properly decanted and drunk on the first day. Looking back at my notes I was surprised to see that there was no noticeable heat on day 1, yet I wrote about it on the second day. I looked up creosote bush after, maybe that’s the source im getting this rain from?
This is a lighter syrah, it does not have that deep meaty punch that you would get with Baker Lane, Kale, or even as elegant that I found a 2013 Keller Estate Rotie to be. This was more interesting that it had both qualities of what I would define as old and new world, just not the ones I like together in the same bottle. The more I write about it and think on it, the more interesting it becomes. By no means am I trying to endorse, but this case price is really solid. I was thinking it was going to go for 20/btl. I’ve had a syrah or 2 from total wine that costs over 30 bucks and they didn’t even come close to this caliber. I am considering grabbing a couple from a split; 1 for my supervisor at work and 1 to compare with these notes.
Thanks for being patient with this rough report, like a lot of us rats, we get really busy with work and it’s hard to squeeze in the unexpected. I’ll be back around later to probably add what I may have missed. Maybe submit a short video/ rattage report I made. Thanks to the casemates team for making rats fat! Cheers!
@HALL_NapaValley
Curious, given the higher AbV, and lacking other labs (pH, TA and such) what do you see the cellar life of this to be; given a proper cellar that is?
@rjquillin Thanks! It’s nice to be a part of the community. I have additional data for you:
We source syrah from a vineyard that lies at the northern end of Big Ranch Road, in the Oak Knoll AVA. It’s a cooler site, and that benefits the syrah by allowing a slow, thoughtful ripening. The fruit there is more polished than jammy or spicy and I’m glad we’re hearing that in the comments.
Harvest occurred on 10/3/2013. Brix levels were 28.4, TA 4.1 and pH 3.71. Cold soak ran through 10/9, and at that point we raised the temperature and saw a sharp drop in Brix to 20ish, meaning that the native yeast was carrying fermentation, and no inoculation was needed (some nutrients were added). This was significant for the winery because this was the first year we had used the new gravity tank room in St. Helena, and the tanks were new, meaning no yeast was endemic in the winery - we can be sure we were using only vineyard strains. By Oct. 16th the tank was dry, and we drained the free run and pressed the must. Only the juice was used for the final wine as the press was too bitter.
@rjquillin so with all of that data I’ll give you a read on the ability to cellar.
In general we make Darwin in a fashion that requires no cellar time past the bottling. It’s made ready to drink with fresh flavor, well integrated oak, lively acidity and a dry composure. That said, 2013 was a burly and broad-shouldered year for tannin. We spent the majority of our time layering and softening tannin rather than developing tannin, which is a joy to work with as a vintage. We get a lot more rigid structure in the 2013 than we did in 2012. The suppleness is in the mid-palate along the edges, which is where we want tannin to land so it lingers and elongates the finish. Alcohol helps in getting those tannins approachable - we don’t harvest for AbV, but if the wine is more balanced because we left it on for an extra day or two, we will always do what is best for the wine.
I pulled a bottle to taste and to confirm these assumptions - My take on age-ability would be 7-10 years, but this wine is dashingly beautiful today.
@rjquillin Sorry yes I completely glossed over this. Yeast is a precarious living organism and to get wine to complete fermentation (so it’s dry with no residual sugar) we have to keep yeast cells happy. Important conditions for thriving yeast include temperature being in a suitable range, providing a rich source of energy in the form of sugar, and supporting a healthy level of required nutrients. The main nutrients are amino acids.
2013 Hall Syrah, Napa, “Darwin”; 15.8% ABV, produced and bottled by Hall, St. Helena CA.
Arrived this (Wednesday, July 24) afternoon, in its own little styrofoam insulator, after being air-shipped from CA to IL. Bottle seemed to be about room temperature (78F), so put in the 'frig for a while to bring it down to more of a cellar temperature. No visible sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Popped the cork, which had some dark residue on it, and poured a little. It’s a very dark wine, as Syrahs can be, but didn’t seem to be showing any signs of age in the color. No strong aroma, at least not enough to penetrate my somewhat stuffy nose. Swirled, looked for legs, finally saw some forming, but it took quite a while. I don’t know if that means anything or not.
Tasted some. I was a little concerned when I read the high ABV on the label, but the alcohol didn’t show up that much. Yes, it can be noticed, but it doesn’t have the sharp alcoholic bite of some high alcohol wines. It’s pretty well balanced. It seems fairly young, even at nearly six years old, and should last for several more years.
I had a bottle of 2016 Petite Sirah that I’d opened last night, and poured that into another glass to compare. By the appearance, it would be hard to tell them apart. But a quick swirl of each glass separates them immediately, with the Hall showing legs. The P.S. didn’t claim to have been aged in bourbon barrels, but it had that on the finish. The Syrah maybe had a little barrel aroma on the long finish, but my barely functioning nose may have missed something. So much for the comparison.
Since this was an hour and a half before supper, I had some crackers and blue cheese for a snack, and the Syrah went quite well with that.
Supper was a simple tomato/basil pasta dish, and the Syrah went well with that, but then most wines would. Saved the rest of the bottle for tomorrow.
Second day: Not much in the way of new impressions. Noticed that there was quite a bit of film on the inside of the bottle up at the neck. So it has spent some time cork down post-bottling.
I opened a bottle of '12 Sancturary “West Side Red”, which is a Syrah-Grenache-Mourvèdre blend at 15.3%, for comparison. Didn’t learn much. The Sanctuary seemed a little lighter in color, and maybe a bit more alcoholic at first. But I liked the Hall slightly more. Both are pretty drinkable wines.
It will be interesting to see what price this comes in at. I’d guess at a major Illinois retailer (e,g, Binny’s) it might sell for around $20. (I haven’t checked.)
@DickL Sorry for the very late post. I’m on a Great Lakes cruise, currently visiting Little Current, Ontario, and this is the first time I’ve had internet access since the offer went live.
And it was interesting to see the prices. The case price seems pretty good.
@DickL Thanks for the note back and for sharing your notes on the Darwin Syrah. I thought it was very representative of the wine.
One note to you and everyone - The HALL Darwin Syrah is available only from our winery and through Casemates (well and American Airlines serves it in 1st class on some routes). It retails for $55 and to our members for $49 normally. We made this wine available exclusively to the Casemates community in hopes we find some new fans, and priced it accordingly at $23/bottle for 3 bottles and $18/bottle for a case to remove any price barrier to trying it out. We hope you enjoy! Cheers.
@danandlisa@losthighwayz I am Jeff Z the General manager for our WALT Pinot noir label. I’ve worked for Craig and Kathryn for 13 years, so initially with HALL wines and later with WALT. I get to participate in the blending of our wines with the winemakers, but I’m not qualified to make wine at this caliber. Thankfully the questions stayed in my wheelhouse, but I had Steve and Megan (Winemakers) available if the questions were more technical. The season is getting closer to Harvest, things are going to be later and more of the different fruit varietals will ripen close to each other, so it’s very busy and we needed them out in the vineyards this week. If anyone has questions, feel free to shoot me a question at jeff@waltwines.com.
@HALL_NapaValley
Very nice to have you around and active these past days.
Do visit again, and if you can make the time, check out other offers and feel free to comment on them as well.
@HALL_NapaValley Don’t know if you’re still reading these posts or not. If you are, maybe you could clear up a confusion that I have: the back label of the bottle says “This unique blend …”, but the Specifications above say 100% Syrah. I’m guessing the label is a mistake. Can you clear this up?
@DickL Thank you for the note back. I’m not actively following but if you tag me of course I’m happy to respond. This is a long story, so hang on…
Since 2004, Darwin is traditionally a syrah based blend with cabernet sauvignon complimenting. The wine stems from a trip Kathryn and Craig made to Australia to see their friend’s Land Art installation (see Andrew Rogers https://www.andrewrogers.org/land-art/australia/bunjil/) The Halls and Andrew nearly crash landed in Darwin Australia following their tour of the art, and enjoyed several bottles of Australian Shriaz when they found themselves on the ground safely.
Nearly simultaneously they had just purchased what we named the HALL Napa River Ranch vineyard. It had syrah planted, which we were selling but we made use of it in 2004.
We made it that way since except 2013, where Steve made the decision to leave it out. He liked the Syrah on it’s merits, and left it alone. It is my favorite vintage, just ahead of 2008. I think this wine has far more aging potential, and Steve and I discussed this before the Casemates deal. I know it sells well in the WALT Tasting room in Sonoma - that’s where I pulled the sample.
Long story short - You are correct. It’s expensive to change the back label and requires government approval so we decided in 2013 to leave it the same as prior vintages. Thanks for the question.
2013 HALL Darwin Syrah, Napa Valley
Tasting Notes
This wine is deep garnet in color while emanating aromas of black fruits, bacon fat, liquorice, and barbequed meats. The palate confirms a big meaty character, concentrated with a rustic, well balanced acidity, tannin, and minerally finish.
The 2013 Darwin exemplifies the characteristics of cool climate Syrah, emanating a nuanced perfume of ripe mission fig, charcuterie, creosote bush and crushed rocks. The rich, concentrated palate is ripe yet refreshing with a tertiary flavor of Medjool dates. This wine is loaded with personality and finishes on a beautiful note of minerality.
Vintage and Winemaker Notes
This unique wine is named for the town of Darwin, Australia, where Kathryn and Craig’s small plane required an emergency landing. Once safely on the ground, the Halls toasted their well-being with an Aussie Shiraz/ Cabernet blend and pledged to craft a similarly poignant wine in the Napa Valley.
Temperatures were moderate and slightly cooler in 2013, providing the opportunity to harvest according to our winemaker’s preferences and not the weather conditions. The 2013 vintage wines are extremeley concentrated in their textural richness. They showcase massive personalities and should be extremely long lived.
Specifications
Included In The Box
Price Comparison
$644.01/case (including shipping) at Hall Wines
About The Winery
Winery: Hall Wines
Location: Napa Valley, CA
Winemaker: Steve Leveque
Since first working in her family’s Mendocino vineyards, Kathryn Hall dreamed of a place to showcase fine wines alongside expressive art and masterful architecture. Now, Kathryn and Craig Hall are creating an unrivalled destination in the Napa Valley - where winemaking excellence and innovation meets contemporary design to celebrate life and inspire the senses.
The Halls acquired the historic St. Helena Bergfeld Winery in 2003 and re-opened as HALL St. Helena in July of that year. With a rich history spanning 150 years, HALL St. Helena’s location was once the home of the Napa Valley Co-Op, producing 40% of Napa Valley’s wines. In 2013, The Hall family completed the restoration of the 1885 Bergfeld Winery and merged history and innovation with the completion of California’s first LEED® Gold Certified winery, in addition to a stunning Visitor Center and state-of-the-art gravity flow winemaking facility.
In addition to the impressive St. Helena winery and tasting room, HALL Rutherford, which was purchased in 1995 with the Grand Opening in March, 2005, boasts a state-of-the-art winery amid the legendary Sacrashe Vineyard in the hills of Rutherford that is dedicated to making single vineyard and limited-production wines. Both locations provide a memorable wine country experience – tasting through award-winning wines, embracing incredible contemporary art and taking in the vistas.
HALL’s estate vineyards encompass more than 500 acres of classic Bordeaux varietals; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc. As winegrowers, the Halls have a strong respect for the environment and a commitment to cutting-edge vineyard technology to yield the highest quality grapes. Through meticulous attention to detail in the vineyards, HALL wines are able to express the unique and diverse character of Napa Valley’s soils and climate. Under the artisan-ship of winemaker Steve Leveque, HALL Wines continue to set new heights in Napa Valley winemaking. We invite you to discover HALL!
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, August 22nd - Monday, August 26th
HALL Wines Darwin Syrah
3 bottles for $69.99 $23.33/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $199.99 $16.67/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2013 HALL Wines Darwin Syrah
Apparently Hall is not sourcing from this vineyard any longer. i believe it’s the last of it’s kind from Hall. Reminds me of the Iron Horse red (T-Bar BDX?) from long ago in a website far far away.
@Winedavid49 good memories of that bottle!
@Winedavid49 Doubly ironic, isn’t Hall the winery who bout the T-bar-T Ranch from Iron Horse? Those wines are great…
@klezman Actually, I’m pretty sure Iron Horse never owned it. It belonged to the family of Joy’s ex-husband.
@ddeuddeg I will definitely take your memory on this one…
@klezman Found this article to confirm: https://www.starchefs.com/wine/starvintners/html/iron_horse_vineyards.shtml
@ddeuddeg Got it! Good to have that corrected in my brain.
@Winedavid49 I recall it was the T-Bar-T Cabernet Franc. I still have one last bottle of the 2005, and I don’t think I’m going to hold off much longer - it will soon be consumed.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2013 HALL Wines Darwin Syrah - $80 = 28.56%
Any chance the winery could make a little magic happen for this Ohioan since were off the list? Visited the winery in December. Very festive and unique Christmas trees and of course, great offerings. (Ask for Celeste!!) Found out I have one of the last bottles of Cabernet produced from the Segassia vineyard which was unfortunately decimated during the wildfires of a couple years ago.
Seconded. I can’t not buy any wine with an airplane on the label, amongst other reasons.
@shrimp74 Thanks for visiting and for the shout out to Celeste! She’s terrific and I’m glad you came by the tasting room. The Segassia Mount Veeder Cabernet is one of my favorite wines - you did well on your trip.
Regarding Ohio shipping, we’re looking to update that permit , but for this offer the state didn’t respond quickly enough. Crossing our fingers we will get a response soon.
@HALL_NapaValley
Thanks so much for the response and confirmation of the Segassia Cab. Don’t plan to touch that for quite some time.
Curious. My girlfriend is a member of your wine club and is able to receive shipments here in Ohio. What am I missing?
And for anyone on the fence - this pricing smashes any pricing she might receive.
Thanks again!!
@shrimp74 Great hearing from you, and tell your girlfriend hello and thank you for being a member. The permit is in the process of being reissued, and we’re waiting to hear from the state. Unfortunately it didn’t work for timing on Casemates.
You are correct that this is an amazing price. Darwin at a member discount is $49.50, so in this offer you receive 2.5 bottles for the same price.
15.8
@rjquillin some like it hot…
@rjquillin yet none of the reviews on CT mentioned it!
@rjquillin i had the same thought. Hope there are some rats to tell us how that alcohol shows up!!
This is an awesome deal.
Now @winedavid49; if you could just twist her arm to offer WALT Pinot Noir…just once…
HIKING! VIKINGS! STRIKE KING [BRAND FISHING LURES]! AWESOME!
CNY Casemates @NatasG @ecanada
I’d like a half case of this Syrah.
Sounds really good! Any takers?
@FritzCat i am interested in some type of split
@Mar6867 Sounds good. Where are you Mar6867? Anybody else in?
@FritzCat @Mar6867 I could be interested for 3…let me know if I should order with my VMP free shipping
@Mar6867 @NatasG Darn! I ordered already and paid a buck a bottle for fast/cool shipping. w/tax it was $242. If you want 3 at that price…excellent. I already owe you lots.
Helluva deal. Have visited many a time and pretty much enjoy the lineup. I’ve had this wine in a tasting setting, been awhile. No notes or anything but not a subtle wine. So while not spending serious time with it have to admit not noticing the octane. With a little age though that can become more noticeable, not saying it has. The couple recent CT notes don’t mention it. Rattage?
@kaolis Thank you! The ABV should not be a problem. I like what the Lab Rat Report had to say.
Cry cry cry
NO MI???
Crying…
@kasandrae We can ship to Michigan. I’ll ask the tech team what happened.
@kasandrae did you get any?with updated shipping, just curious. T
@ttboy23 they never changed it to include MI, so no
I am interested in this at the case price.
Any SoCal folks willing to split it up with me?
@CorTot I will.
@CorTot I’d be good for two or three.
@CorTot You doing the deed, or should I ship your way?
@rjquillin I’ll order.
@CorTot @rjquillin let me know how many you can spare. Message me Venmo handle or I can pay you at Adam’s
@losthighwayz @rjquillin Ron and I’ll will each take 3, do you want 6?
@CorTot @rjquillin I prefer 4 but can do 5
@CorTot @rjquillin i can reach out to @davirom to see if he will take 2?
@CorTot @losthighwayz @rjquillin OK, I will take 2.
@davirom @losthighwayz @rjquillin
done. Ron please add this split to your spreadsheet.
@CorTot @davirom @losthighwayz
Done
can you send order phrase and $$ so I can populate
Little late off the tee, but here goes: Upon PnP, nice dark red color. Bit of a hot nose to it. One dinner guest said smells like bread yeast. Initial taste had sweet red fruit, but not a sweet taste, if that’s possible. Second pour after a short airing and the alcohol had blown off some, with a taste of red liquorice coming in. Second day, after sitting on the counter vaccu-stopped, the primary taste was very ripe red fruit without much of the spice a Syrah can often have. Not subtle is an apt descriptor. With the change in taste to super-ripeness in one day, I’d guess long cellaring is not called for.
Wife, who prefers sweeter reds, like this. Not into auto-buy category for me, but a good daily drinker or party wine.
@kls_in_MD couldn’t agree more with the sweet but not sweet description and the drink soon call.
The wizards at Casemates predicted that the 110 Las Vegas heat will be 98 with overcast when this bottle arrived. It was really warm, the ice pack did not survive death valley. I stick this guy in an incubator to cool down and nap while my temperature paranoia lurks. Thinking it’s pretty hot outside, bbq beef brisket and baked beans sounds about right.
Hall Darwin 2013 Syrah
Napa Valley
Day 1- Decanted 45+min
Color: Garnet - Clear(little sediment towards end).
Nose: A strong waft of dark fruit, slight vanilla/mocha, and rain?
Taste: Dark fruits on the nose, boysenberry or blackberry jam, dried cherries, currants, pepper.
Finish: Smooth yet dry, medium tannins, slight minerality. There is a noticeable presence of oak.
Day 2 + Impressions: There was no improvement on the second day. The fruits faded behind the alcohol on the nose. The taste switched to that rain note I found on the nose, faded dried cherries. This needs to be properly decanted and drunk on the first day. Looking back at my notes I was surprised to see that there was no noticeable heat on day 1, yet I wrote about it on the second day. I looked up creosote bush after, maybe that’s the source im getting this rain from?
This is a lighter syrah, it does not have that deep meaty punch that you would get with Baker Lane, Kale, or even as elegant that I found a 2013 Keller Estate Rotie to be. This was more interesting that it had both qualities of what I would define as old and new world, just not the ones I like together in the same bottle. The more I write about it and think on it, the more interesting it becomes. By no means am I trying to endorse, but this case price is really solid. I was thinking it was going to go for 20/btl. I’ve had a syrah or 2 from total wine that costs over 30 bucks and they didn’t even come close to this caliber. I am considering grabbing a couple from a split; 1 for my supervisor at work and 1 to compare with these notes.
Thanks for being patient with this rough report, like a lot of us rats, we get really busy with work and it’s hard to squeeze in the unexpected. I’ll be back around later to probably add what I may have missed. Maybe submit a short video/ rattage report I made. Thanks to the casemates team for making rats fat! Cheers!
@TechnoViking Thanks for the long note! I’m glad you enjoyed the Syrah. We love it for daily drinking as well!
@HALL_NapaValley
Curious, given the higher AbV, and lacking other labs (pH, TA and such) what do you see the cellar life of this to be; given a proper cellar that is?
And welcome to the fray.
@rjquillin Thanks! It’s nice to be a part of the community. I have additional data for you:
We source syrah from a vineyard that lies at the northern end of Big Ranch Road, in the Oak Knoll AVA. It’s a cooler site, and that benefits the syrah by allowing a slow, thoughtful ripening. The fruit there is more polished than jammy or spicy and I’m glad we’re hearing that in the comments.
Harvest occurred on 10/3/2013. Brix levels were 28.4, TA 4.1 and pH 3.71. Cold soak ran through 10/9, and at that point we raised the temperature and saw a sharp drop in Brix to 20ish, meaning that the native yeast was carrying fermentation, and no inoculation was needed (some nutrients were added). This was significant for the winery because this was the first year we had used the new gravity tank room in St. Helena, and the tanks were new, meaning no yeast was endemic in the winery - we can be sure we were using only vineyard strains. By Oct. 16th the tank was dry, and we drained the free run and pressed the must. Only the juice was used for the final wine as the press was too bitter.
@rjquillin so with all of that data I’ll give you a read on the ability to cellar.
In general we make Darwin in a fashion that requires no cellar time past the bottling. It’s made ready to drink with fresh flavor, well integrated oak, lively acidity and a dry composure. That said, 2013 was a burly and broad-shouldered year for tannin. We spent the majority of our time layering and softening tannin rather than developing tannin, which is a joy to work with as a vintage. We get a lot more rigid structure in the 2013 than we did in 2012. The suppleness is in the mid-palate along the edges, which is where we want tannin to land so it lingers and elongates the finish. Alcohol helps in getting those tannins approachable - we don’t harvest for AbV, but if the wine is more balanced because we left it on for an extra day or two, we will always do what is best for the wine.
I pulled a bottle to taste and to confirm these assumptions - My take on age-ability would be 7-10 years, but this wine is dashingly beautiful today.
@HALL_NapaValley
Didn’t expect this, but I’m not a winemaker.
When, what, and why is this done?
Or should I just google it?
@rjquillin Sorry yes I completely glossed over this. Yeast is a precarious living organism and to get wine to complete fermentation (so it’s dry with no residual sugar) we have to keep yeast cells happy. Important conditions for thriving yeast include temperature being in a suitable range, providing a rich source of energy in the form of sugar, and supporting a healthy level of required nutrients. The main nutrients are amino acids.
@HALL_NapaValley Thanks again.
Great insight, thanks for the info. Really intrigued by this offer.
Anyone in CT - Lower Fairfield County or just over the border in Westchester - interested in splitting a case?
seems like a wine that people will enjoy regardless of their experience - and seems to have been made with quality. In for a case.
Too bad July is still a no ship month…
@kaolis same prob here in FL
@kaolis @southpaw25 try their cold ship program. We use one for packages directly shipped from the winery. https://casemates.com/forum/topics/new-summer-shipping-options
Conflicting email vs page notes…available for NJ???
@aalloju Sorry, NJ does not allow us to ship to them directly and Casemates has to use our permits. Please advocate for better shipping laws here! https://freethegrapes.org/alert/winery-new-jersey/
No shipping to Ohio??? I want a case!!
@jkyne Not right now, but hopefully the permit will arrive soon. You can also advocate for better Ohio Laws here: Free the Grapes Ohio!
2013 Hall Syrah, Napa, “Darwin”; 15.8% ABV, produced and bottled by Hall, St. Helena CA.
Arrived this (Wednesday, July 24) afternoon, in its own little styrofoam insulator, after being air-shipped from CA to IL. Bottle seemed to be about room temperature (78F), so put in the 'frig for a while to bring it down to more of a cellar temperature. No visible sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Popped the cork, which had some dark residue on it, and poured a little. It’s a very dark wine, as Syrahs can be, but didn’t seem to be showing any signs of age in the color. No strong aroma, at least not enough to penetrate my somewhat stuffy nose. Swirled, looked for legs, finally saw some forming, but it took quite a while. I don’t know if that means anything or not.
Tasted some. I was a little concerned when I read the high ABV on the label, but the alcohol didn’t show up that much. Yes, it can be noticed, but it doesn’t have the sharp alcoholic bite of some high alcohol wines. It’s pretty well balanced. It seems fairly young, even at nearly six years old, and should last for several more years.
I had a bottle of 2016 Petite Sirah that I’d opened last night, and poured that into another glass to compare. By the appearance, it would be hard to tell them apart. But a quick swirl of each glass separates them immediately, with the Hall showing legs. The P.S. didn’t claim to have been aged in bourbon barrels, but it had that on the finish. The Syrah maybe had a little barrel aroma on the long finish, but my barely functioning nose may have missed something. So much for the comparison.
Since this was an hour and a half before supper, I had some crackers and blue cheese for a snack, and the Syrah went quite well with that.
Supper was a simple tomato/basil pasta dish, and the Syrah went well with that, but then most wines would. Saved the rest of the bottle for tomorrow.
Second day: Not much in the way of new impressions. Noticed that there was quite a bit of film on the inside of the bottle up at the neck. So it has spent some time cork down post-bottling.
I opened a bottle of '12 Sancturary “West Side Red”, which is a Syrah-Grenache-Mourvèdre blend at 15.3%, for comparison. Didn’t learn much. The Sanctuary seemed a little lighter in color, and maybe a bit more alcoholic at first. But I liked the Hall slightly more. Both are pretty drinkable wines.
It will be interesting to see what price this comes in at. I’d guess at a major Illinois retailer (e,g, Binny’s) it might sell for around $20. (I haven’t checked.)
@DickL Sorry for the very late post. I’m on a Great Lakes cruise, currently visiting Little Current, Ontario, and this is the first time I’ve had internet access since the offer went live.
And it was interesting to see the prices. The case price seems pretty good.
@DickL Thanks for the note back and for sharing your notes on the Darwin Syrah. I thought it was very representative of the wine.
One note to you and everyone - The HALL Darwin Syrah is available only from our winery and through Casemates (well and American Airlines serves it in 1st class on some routes). It retails for $55 and to our members for $49 normally. We made this wine available exclusively to the Casemates community in hopes we find some new fans, and priced it accordingly at $23/bottle for 3 bottles and $18/bottle for a case to remove any price barrier to trying it out. We hope you enjoy! Cheers.
@HALL_NapaValley Thank you very much for your participation. It made all the difference! Cannot wait to try it.
@danandlisa The pleasure is mine to share these stories and talk about our wine.
Quick plug, if you love it after it arrives, please share it on Instagram! Hope you will make a visit to see us.
@danandlisa @HALL_NapaValley agree. Appreciate your participation. Are you the winemaker?
@danandlisa @losthighwayz I am Jeff Z the General manager for our WALT Pinot noir label. I’ve worked for Craig and Kathryn for 13 years, so initially with HALL wines and later with WALT. I get to participate in the blending of our wines with the winemakers, but I’m not qualified to make wine at this caliber. Thankfully the questions stayed in my wheelhouse, but I had Steve and Megan (Winemakers) available if the questions were more technical. The season is getting closer to Harvest, things are going to be later and more of the different fruit varietals will ripen close to each other, so it’s very busy and we needed them out in the vineyards this week. If anyone has questions, feel free to shoot me a question at jeff@waltwines.com.
Thanks!
@HALL_NapaValley
Very nice to have you around and active these past days.
Do visit again, and if you can make the time, check out other offers and feel free to comment on them as well.
@HALL_NapaValley Don’t know if you’re still reading these posts or not. If you are, maybe you could clear up a confusion that I have: the back label of the bottle says “This unique blend …”, but the Specifications above say 100% Syrah. I’m guessing the label is a mistake. Can you clear this up?
@DickL Thank you for the note back. I’m not actively following but if you tag me of course I’m happy to respond. This is a long story, so hang on…
Since 2004, Darwin is traditionally a syrah based blend with cabernet sauvignon complimenting. The wine stems from a trip Kathryn and Craig made to Australia to see their friend’s Land Art installation (see Andrew Rogers https://www.andrewrogers.org/land-art/australia/bunjil/) The Halls and Andrew nearly crash landed in Darwin Australia following their tour of the art, and enjoyed several bottles of Australian Shriaz when they found themselves on the ground safely.
Nearly simultaneously they had just purchased what we named the HALL Napa River Ranch vineyard. It had syrah planted, which we were selling but we made use of it in 2004.
We made it that way since except 2013, where Steve made the decision to leave it out. He liked the Syrah on it’s merits, and left it alone. It is my favorite vintage, just ahead of 2008. I think this wine has far more aging potential, and Steve and I discussed this before the Casemates deal. I know it sells well in the WALT Tasting room in Sonoma - that’s where I pulled the sample.
Long story short - You are correct. It’s expensive to change the back label and requires government approval so we decided in 2013 to leave it the same as prior vintages. Thanks for the question.
Yeah Vintner participation pushed me over the edge. Went for a case.
@ern1 thanks! You will be happy you did.