The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Jack’s Masterpiece exhibits copious amounts of sweet creme de cassis fruit intermixed with notions of chocolate-covered cherries, licorice, and flowers. This dense, full-bodied, multilayered wine possesses terrific fruit, ripe tannin, and an opulent, voluptuous finish. Give it 3-4 years of bottle age, and drink it over the following 15-20 years. Hall Winery appears to have turned things around in a very dramatic and positive fashion. The 2006 turn around vintage, the strength of the 2007s, and the impressive 2008 barrel samples have convinced me that this is definitely another serious player in Napa Valley. David Ramey is the winemaking consultant at Hall. There are four separate bottlings of 2006 Cabernet Sauvignons. To reiterate, I tasted the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Segassia, 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Exzellenz, 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Bergfeld, 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain, 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Jack’s Masterpiece, and a new offering, the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Kathryn Hall, all meriting potential ratings between 90 and 94 points. Readers should be giving Hall Winery serious attention.Tel. (707) 967-2626; Fax (707) 967-2639

A masterpiece it may be, but right now, in its precocious youth, it’s all jammy fruit and smoky oak. But what jam! What oak! Tastes rich and compellingly good, like being swept away on a tidal wave of blackberry essence and cocoa. Very good, very rich, very fine, but you want to stash it away for a few years to let the parts meld. ——S.H.(7/1/2010)—— 93