2002 HdV Napa Valley Red Wine (Hyde Vineyard)
Thanks to the maturity of the grapes, careful fruit sorting and patient fermentation, this wine expresses layers of black cherry fruit and a gentle sweetness. The combination of sweet spices, firm tannins and a solid frame of acidity contribute to the long finish of the wine.
i-WineReview
Rating: 94 points
"This is perhaps the most elegant of the red blends. While less fruit forward and lighter in style, it exhibits a silky textured mouth feel, high acidity, beautiful balance, and a lingering finish. This wine has great potential for long term aging."
-Jay Youmans, MW and Mike Potashnik, Ph.D, Publishers, International Wine Review, December 2006
Wine Report
Rating: 92 points
"A beauty dressed in dark ruby, this wine's perfume blended berry fruit, mint, oak, and chocolate aromas with a whiff of white pepper. 'Pleasant' but 'not very complex' flavors of dark fruit, chocolate, licorice and smoke balanced with dry, smooth, inky tannins. Panelists said this full-bodied wine had a 'comfortable' mouthfeel and a 'good structure.' The finish mixed rich cherry, wood and eucalyptus notes, though it 'dropped off a bit abruptly.'"
November/December 2005
Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine
Rating: 93 points, 2 Puffs
"90% Merlot; 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. It may go by a generic title, and its stately structure does bring fine claret to mind, but its ongoing themes of ripe cherries provide this bottling with an indelible varietal stamp. It gathers more richness from its liberal complement of tantalizing oak, and its unmistakable message of fruit is in no way lessened by the late arrival of tannins. It will prove enjoyable now with richer beef preparations, but it will keep very well and comes with a five-year prognosis of further refinement and complexity."
November 2005
Restaurant Wine
Rating: Four and a half stars
"Very fine nose: ripe fruit, light new oakiness (vanilla, tobacco); full bodied, supple and medium rich in flavor, with a long, mildly oaked finish. Stylish and complex, tasting of blueberry, blackcurrant, toast, cedar, tobacco, and oak. (2007-2012)."
Issue 104
Wine & Spirits
Rating: 91 Points
"This is the second vintage from the partnership between the Hyde family of Carneros and Aubert de Villaine, the director of the DRC. De Villaine makes the wine with vineyard manager Laurence Hyde, and Stephane Vivier, the winemaker since '02. It's a blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot that Hyde grows on his ranch. The aromatics are dense and floral, edged with a red spice. The tannins are elegant, sustained by the cool, shallow, alluvial soils of Carneros. The fruit is warm and rosy, made for Napa free-range beef."