Hillgate Vineyards
At the gateway to the vineyards, in the green foothills of Northern California lies a beautiful place we call Hillgate Vineyards. Here we grow grapes that thrive in this beautiful climate that grow big, dark, and inky wines.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI
This wine really surprised me. Not just because I thought it was called Hellgate to start (something about the font just made me think Gothic horror).
Upon opening, it definitely had the ripe fruit bouquet you’d expect from the description on the bottle. Lots of blackberry, bramble character on the nose. I expected the flavor to be along those lines as well as it is a very deep red in color. I was pleasantly surprised though that it was quite balanced, not super heavy, and didn’t read sweet to me like some juicy California reds. It has a lot of fruit upfront, again blackberry, cherry, ripe fruit flavors. However, the fruit was very well complimented by a decent amount of tannin and a bit of acidity, taking it pretty far from the jammy notes I’d anticipated. It had just a bit of vegetal notes to me as well rather than smoke, tobacco, and heavy oak. It is more medium bodied and I think it would appeal to a wide variety of wine drinkers. This may sound insane, but my first thought was, this is like if you had a fruity California cab in an almost Italian style with the brighter notes in there?
The first day we had it with a kitchen sink pizza of the veggies we had left in the fridge, shishito pepper, bell pepper, onion, some greens, and a red sauce. I think it was pretty good for that meal and the pizza brought out the earthy vegetal flavors a lot on my palate. I definitely enjoyed drinking it the first day and thought it held up nicely over the course of the evening. Nice fruit, good structure, and a pleasant finish that keeps you going back for another sip.
Day 2 was my real test. This time it was a simple steak, mashed potatoes, and sauteed squash. The second day it definitely mellowed quite a bit. Much deeper fruit character (blackberry and bramble from the nose), still enough tannin structure to keep a clean finish, though the acidity and vegetal characteristics had faded. I definitely still enjoyed it though. I was worried it would either mellow too much and get super jammy or it could have gone the other way and been ascerbic, but it toed the line nicely getting more toward jammy without feeling heavy or sweet. It complimented the meal well, but maybe I would have switched the pizza to Day 2 and the steak to Day 1 for optimal pairing.
Overall, I was very pleased with this bottle. I think it is really nicely balanced, you can drink it young without worrying about cellaring, and it will be a crowd pleaser. Take it to parties, open it up for a relaxed meal, or just sip it while you binge the latest tv shows.
@neilornot Thanks for this. Now considering it since I was afraid it was a syrupy sweet affair. What you said about medium body and good acidity makes me think this might be a very good cellar defender.
@lionel47 I think it would work great for that. Grab a bottle when you don’t want to dig into the aging stock. I didn’t put it in the main review, but my first thought was this is what Apothic Red could be. It always seems like it actually has residual sugar and is a little syrupy. The Hillgate was not like that at all to me.
Several years ago I bought a case of Healdsburg Ranches Zin and this is similar to it as far as a great go-to bottle.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2019 Hillgate Cabernet Sauvignon - $25 = 20.83%
Will be posting lab rat notes later this afternoon. Missed the Saturday delivery by 10 minutes. My normal UPS driver is cool and drops off regardless. Saturday was another driver and I got the dreaded sticky note.
I don’t think there is much more of a story behind the notion that any gorilla can make wine in California.
I have not tried this, so I don’t want to seem overly pessimistic, but that is the reason for the price. It isn’t like there will be some romance story of a business partnership that fell through.
@KNmeh7@woopdedoo Agree. Shannon Family owns quite a few label trademarks. Had some/bought some extra grapes? Write up makes it sound like it is from grapes grown at Hillgate Vineyards, well a place they call Hillgate Vineyards???
Finally got around to tasting today’s offer. Honestly, the California designation was a turn off from the get go. It will likely not bother most people but I’m a bit picky. On to the wine.
Color: deep purple hue
Aroma: generic and non distinct for the most part. Got some blueberries though
Taste: blueberry with some faint green notes (picked too early?). I can’t say I can pick out megapurple but something tells me it could be a player here. I say this because the taste was generic and lacked nuanced. Reminded me of mass produced supermarket wines.
Tannins are soft and the acidity low. Too low for my liking. Wine tastes brooding imo.
I will say the wine is simple and not offensive. It will likely please most casual wine drinkers. It just wasn’t for me. I prefer wines with grapes that speak to what the winemaker intended. This did not do that.
In sum, a perfectly ok wine for the price but don’t expect a great QPR.
Feel free to ask any questions
Thank you WCC as always for the opportunity to rat.
@losthighwayz
I would think the winemaker did exactly he intended, made a lot of wine from inexpensive grapes that isn’t offensive that a lot of people would like and he could sell for $10 or $15 dollars a bottle, well done IMHO
@losthighwayz I’ll pick on you for implying that all California appellation wines are blah.
Turley Old Vines? Tercero/Cabot Les Deux Comtes? Bedrock California Zin or Syrah? Winesmith Any Gorilla?
Sure there’s a ton of plonk from the hottest parts of the Central Valley or bulk wine with just the CA appellation, but it’s not fair to prejudge a wine based on that! (Unless it’s at the grocery store…in which case, prejudge away!)
@losthighwayz
No I didn’t but I would never imply that the wine was not what the winemaker intended or it might have mega purple without knowing for sure. But blurting out unknown assumptions without knowing facts seems to be pretty common these days!
@losthighwayz No, you simply started your review by implying that all CA appellation wine is blah because you’re “picky”.
FWIW, if I see California from Shannon Ridge I’d immediately wonder why it’s not Lake County and if that implied anything about the wine’s quality. But I’m just giving you a hard time.
You want a kisk-ass wine with a shitty appellation? Get the Evidence par Caroline, Vin de France.
@ScottW58 why not? I am giving my honest review based on my limited knowledge about winemaking. Is this not why we labrat in this community? I never said it had mega but simply stated it might be at play. Maybe it is not. Regardless, I am giving my honest take. I hope people appreciate it. I sure do. Finally, you stated well done by the winemaker. Doubt you have had this wine before so not sure how you know its well done. Unless you mean that all winemakers’ intentions are valid and in good faith? Ultimately we all have distinct palates and I stand by my review.
@losthighwayz@ScottW58 If you look at the bottle it’s just Vin de France…i.e. all you know is it came from France! Of course if you know more you know that the grapes are top notch. Which was exactly the point in comparing it to a California appellation, which can be totally generic and full of megapurple or something special or anywhere in between.
And fwiw, I don’t think Scott was trying to invalidate your review or discount it.
@losthighwayz
Well implying it could have mega purple without admittedly knowing what mega purple tastes like and saying that this wine is not what the winemaker intended is not helpful in the least, your other tasting notes seem to be honest and I thank you for being happy I came out in this thread!
@smtcapecod Megapurple is, iirc, a dark purple grape juice concentrate that some add to wine to “improve” various characteristics. Those who drink wine for its variety and sense of place would tend to not appreciate such additions.
@klezman Thank you! I was afraid that was the case.
Somehow in reading ‘IIRC’, I channeled the Letterkenney cast bandy-ing about the term “allegedly”. /giphy !Not that anyone is plugged into Ottawa comedy.
I guess such things might be an eventuality, given the economies of scale and volume involved, and that it underscores the ROI for understanding a bit about the production end of the business. I’ve been wondering about the use of colors, flavor packages/concentrates, and even different additives that might boost alcohol or temper attributes like tanins, vs managing the vines and the fermentation process.
@smtcapecod Ottawa is closer to home than where most people live on this site!
There are dozens of permitted additives in wine, mostly derived from grapes in some way, that are meant to adjust the wine in myriad ways. It’s not nefarious on its face, but I don’t think what we would - on this site - consider to be quality wine could ever use grape juice concentrate or other additives like that. But there are so many wines we love that add water, tartaric acid, and make other adjustments like using reverse osmosis to decrease the alcohol content.
I was worried about this one - sort of bought it by mistake. Definitely a good value - maybe not the best Cab in the world, but a cut above the random cheap stuff.
2019 Hillgate Cabernet Sauvignon, California
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Not for sale online, $216/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Mar 14 - Thursday, Mar 17
2019 Hillgate Cabernet Sauvignon
6 bottles for $59.99 $10/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $94.99 $7.92/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
This wine really surprised me. Not just because I thought it was called Hellgate to start (something about the font just made me think Gothic horror).
Upon opening, it definitely had the ripe fruit bouquet you’d expect from the description on the bottle. Lots of blackberry, bramble character on the nose. I expected the flavor to be along those lines as well as it is a very deep red in color. I was pleasantly surprised though that it was quite balanced, not super heavy, and didn’t read sweet to me like some juicy California reds. It has a lot of fruit upfront, again blackberry, cherry, ripe fruit flavors. However, the fruit was very well complimented by a decent amount of tannin and a bit of acidity, taking it pretty far from the jammy notes I’d anticipated. It had just a bit of vegetal notes to me as well rather than smoke, tobacco, and heavy oak. It is more medium bodied and I think it would appeal to a wide variety of wine drinkers. This may sound insane, but my first thought was, this is like if you had a fruity California cab in an almost Italian style with the brighter notes in there?
The first day we had it with a kitchen sink pizza of the veggies we had left in the fridge, shishito pepper, bell pepper, onion, some greens, and a red sauce. I think it was pretty good for that meal and the pizza brought out the earthy vegetal flavors a lot on my palate. I definitely enjoyed drinking it the first day and thought it held up nicely over the course of the evening. Nice fruit, good structure, and a pleasant finish that keeps you going back for another sip.
Day 2 was my real test. This time it was a simple steak, mashed potatoes, and sauteed squash. The second day it definitely mellowed quite a bit. Much deeper fruit character (blackberry and bramble from the nose), still enough tannin structure to keep a clean finish, though the acidity and vegetal characteristics had faded. I definitely still enjoyed it though. I was worried it would either mellow too much and get super jammy or it could have gone the other way and been ascerbic, but it toed the line nicely getting more toward jammy without feeling heavy or sweet. It complimented the meal well, but maybe I would have switched the pizza to Day 2 and the steak to Day 1 for optimal pairing.
Overall, I was very pleased with this bottle. I think it is really nicely balanced, you can drink it young without worrying about cellaring, and it will be a crowd pleaser. Take it to parties, open it up for a relaxed meal, or just sip it while you binge the latest tv shows.
@neilornot Thanks for this. Now considering it since I was afraid it was a syrupy sweet affair. What you said about medium body and good acidity makes me think this might be a very good cellar defender.
@lionel47 @neilornot “ I thought it was called Hellgate to start”… SO DID I! I was like, leading with honesty I can get behind…
@lionel47 I think it would work great for that. Grab a bottle when you don’t want to dig into the aging stock. I didn’t put it in the main review, but my first thought was this is what Apothic Red could be. It always seems like it actually has residual sugar and is a little syrupy. The Hillgate was not like that at all to me.
Several years ago I bought a case of Healdsburg Ranches Zin and this is similar to it as far as a great go-to bottle.
@lionel47 @neilornot Never had Apothic and God willing never will, but Apothic does indeed have a good dollop of RS at around 16 g/l.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2019 Hillgate Cabernet Sauvignon - $25 = 20.83%
Will be posting lab rat notes later this afternoon. Missed the Saturday delivery by 10 minutes. My normal UPS driver is cool and drops off regardless. Saturday was another driver and I got the dreaded sticky note.
@losthighwayz looking forward to your review!
At this price, there must be a story …
@woopdedoo
Appellation: California.
I don’t think there is much more of a story behind the notion that any gorilla can make wine in California.
I have not tried this, so I don’t want to seem overly pessimistic, but that is the reason for the price. It isn’t like there will be some romance story of a business partnership that fell through.
@KNmeh7 @woopdedoo Agree. Shannon Family owns quite a few label trademarks. Had some/bought some extra grapes? Write up makes it sound like it is from grapes grown at Hillgate Vineyards, well a place they call Hillgate Vineyards???
Finally got around to tasting today’s offer. Honestly, the California designation was a turn off from the get go. It will likely not bother most people but I’m a bit picky. On to the wine.
Color: deep purple hue
Aroma: generic and non distinct for the most part. Got some blueberries though
Taste: blueberry with some faint green notes (picked too early?). I can’t say I can pick out megapurple but something tells me it could be a player here. I say this because the taste was generic and lacked nuanced. Reminded me of mass produced supermarket wines.
Tannins are soft and the acidity low. Too low for my liking. Wine tastes brooding imo.
I will say the wine is simple and not offensive. It will likely please most casual wine drinkers. It just wasn’t for me. I prefer wines with grapes that speak to what the winemaker intended. This did not do that.
In sum, a perfectly ok wine for the price but don’t expect a great QPR.
Feel free to ask any questions
Thank you WCC as always for the opportunity to rat.
@losthighwayz
I would think the winemaker did exactly he intended, made a lot of wine from inexpensive grapes that isn’t offensive that a lot of people would like and he could sell for $10 or $15 dollars a bottle, well done IMHO
@losthighwayz I’ll pick on you for implying that all California appellation wines are blah.
Turley Old Vines? Tercero/Cabot Les Deux Comtes? Bedrock California Zin or Syrah? Winesmith Any Gorilla?
Sure there’s a ton of plonk from the hottest parts of the Central Valley or bulk wine with just the CA appellation, but it’s not fair to prejudge a wine based on that! (Unless it’s at the grocery store…in which case, prejudge away!)
@ScottW58 agree. But did you buy any? Doubt it
@klezman true but I never said it was plonk. I said I was turned off by it. The wine was ok but not my cup of tea
@losthighwayz
No I didn’t but I would never imply that the wine was not what the winemaker intended or it might have mega purple without knowing for sure. But blurting out unknown assumptions without knowing facts seems to be pretty common these days!
@losthighwayz No, you simply started your review by implying that all CA appellation wine is blah because you’re “picky”.
FWIW, if I see California from Shannon Ridge I’d immediately wonder why it’s not Lake County and if that implied anything about the wine’s quality. But I’m just giving you a hard time.
You want a kisk-ass wine with a shitty appellation? Get the Evidence par Caroline, Vin de France.
@klezman @losthighwayz
Which appellation do you assume is shitty in that wine?
@ScottW58 why not? I am giving my honest review based on my limited knowledge about winemaking. Is this not why we labrat in this community? I never said it had mega but simply stated it might be at play. Maybe it is not. Regardless, I am giving my honest take. I hope people appreciate it. I sure do. Finally, you stated well done by the winemaker. Doubt you have had this wine before so not sure how you know its well done. Unless you mean that all winemakers’ intentions are valid and in good faith? Ultimately we all have distinct palates and I stand by my review.
@ScottW58 putting words in my mouth? I am glad that I am able to get your feathers roughed up enough to see you on this thread. Its been a while
*ruffled lol
@losthighwayz @ScottW58 If you look at the bottle it’s just Vin de France…i.e. all you know is it came from France! Of course if you know more you know that the grapes are top notch. Which was exactly the point in comparing it to a California appellation, which can be totally generic and full of megapurple or something special or anywhere in between.
And fwiw, I don’t think Scott was trying to invalidate your review or discount it.
@losthighwayz
Well implying it could have mega purple without admittedly knowing what mega purple tastes like and saying that this wine is not what the winemaker intended is not helpful in the least, your other tasting notes seem to be honest and I thank you for being happy I came out in this thread!
@losthighwayz
Lol I don’t think your opinion could move my opinion either way
Questions were invited, so…clarification on ‘megapurple’ for those not in the know, please? Given that it’s a thing/noun, apparently?
@smtcapecod Megapurple is, iirc, a dark purple grape juice concentrate that some add to wine to “improve” various characteristics. Those who drink wine for its variety and sense of place would tend to not appreciate such additions.
@klezman Thank you! I was afraid that was the case.
!Not that anyone is plugged into Ottawa comedy. 
Somehow in reading ‘IIRC’, I channeled the Letterkenney cast bandy-ing about the term “allegedly”. /giphy
I guess such things might be an eventuality, given the economies of scale and volume involved, and that it underscores the ROI for understanding a bit about the production end of the business. I’ve been wondering about the use of colors, flavor packages/concentrates, and even different additives that might boost alcohol or temper attributes like tanins, vs managing the vines and the fermentation process.
@smtcapecod Ottawa is closer to home than where most people live on this site!
There are dozens of permitted additives in wine, mostly derived from grapes in some way, that are meant to adjust the wine in myriad ways. It’s not nefarious on its face, but I don’t think what we would - on this site - consider to be quality wine could ever use grape juice concentrate or other additives like that. But there are so many wines we love that add water, tartaric acid, and make other adjustments like using reverse osmosis to decrease the alcohol content.
@klezman @smtcapecod
@klezman @michaelvella
@klezman @michaelvella @smtcapecod Get that man a Puppers!
I’ve seen this label on a store shelf before…
$5 at GO.
I was worried about this one - sort of bought it by mistake. Definitely a good value - maybe not the best Cab in the world, but a cut above the random cheap stuff.