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Wine Recommendation
Hunnicutt Wines
2004 Cabernet Sauvignon(Napa Valley)
Justin Hunnicutt Stephens and Kirk Venge grew up together as kids in St. Helena. Kirk’s dad, Nils Venge, worked at Villa Mt. Eden and Groth before launching his own Saddleback Cellars in 1984. Kirk worked with his dad, went to UC Davis to study viticulture and oenology, and moved to New Zealand to work in a winery there before returning to Napa Valley in 2000. Together with his dad they built the Venge winery, where Kirk today is winemaker.
It was without hesitation, then, that when Justin decided to produce his own wine he asked Kirk to be his winemaker. Justin graduated form UC Berkeley and went to work in commercial real estate before getting the wine bug. When he got it, the first move he made was to work crush at Miner Family Winery. From there he continued on to Saddleback Cellars and Seavey before launching his own wine. He concurrently functions as general manager of his family’s label, D. R. Stephens Estate. Hunnicutt focuses on small lots of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Sauvignon Blanc.
The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (325 cases produced) is full-bodied, seamless, and elegant, with notes of cassis, cranberry, raspberry, red licorice, tar, and vanilla.
Reviewed January 30, 2007 by Catherine Fallis.
The Wine
Winery: Hunnicutt Wines |
The Reviewer
Catherine Fallis
Founder and President of Planet Grape LLC, a company committed to bringing the joy of wine, food, and good living into the lives of everyday people, Catherine is creator of the “grape goddess guides to good living,” a series of books, television presentations, seminars, and e-learning programs. The fifth woman in the world to become a Master Sommelier, grape goddess Catherine Fallis is still very much down-to-earth. |