The beauty of the Nickel & Nickel wines is the distinctiveness they express, each representing the personality and character of a specific vineyard site. You can pretty much count on all of them being good — actually very good — but some are clearly better than others. Perhaps better is the wrong word. I should say I have some favorites, and I would have to put the Hayne Vineyard cabernet in that category. This is a new grape source for Nickel & Nickel winemaker Darice Spinelli. If this first release from Hayne is the norm rather than the exception, you would have to say another Nickel & Nickel star has been born. This is a massive wine for a Nickel & Nickel cab, but as is her style, Spinelli never loses sight of the necessary tension between ripeness and structure that makes great wines great. It is rich and mouth-coating on the palate, with layers of ripe blackberry and black cherry fruit, and inviting spice accents. The tannins are rich and silky. Even in a flight of top-notch Napa Valley cabernets, this one stands out.
Nickel & Nickel, St. Helena (Napa Valley, California) Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
By Robert Whitley