2017 Halpin Red Wine Napa Valley 750 ml

The streets of Philadelphia may call to mind a certain fictional boxing champion for entire generations of people, but for us, it’s all Halpin territory. This is the story of how Halpin forced us to meet on his home turf. It’s not as if we were taken captive exactly, but he did book our flights without asking. We found out in an email: “You’re about to understand why I live in Philly, and not in Wine Country. Car will pick you up tomorrow morning. Flights booked. Through baggage claim, just look for sign: ‘Rocky Rouge’ and don’t ring my doorbell, just come in.” 

This trip would be one for the record books, and would end with us agreeing to offer every bottle of Halpin’s newest release—the 2017 Halpin Red Blend Napa Valley.  

That most details about this wine are redacted from the record because of our ongoing non-disclosure agreement with Halpin should come as no surprise. But read between the lines: The mountaintop winery source is from one of Napa’s “early success stories,” as described by Wine Spectator. Today, even with a 100-point winemaker at the helm, the winery somehow manages to fly under the radar despite earning 90-99-point scores close to 50 times from Robert Parker alone. 

Their “Bordeaux-like” structure and depth have garnered Parker superlatives for days, like: “broodingly rich,” “primordial” and “full-throttle,” with “sweet tannins,” “great focus and delineation,” and half a case of that wine will run you $900. Halpin’s rendition is equally layered, powerful, and focused with red and black fruits, floral underpinnings, and a divine dusty tannin backbone with a spicy finish marked by savory herbs and mineral notes. It will run you just $25 per bottle.  

A small group of us—a very small group—knocked off half a case with Halpin, walking through the streets of Philadelphia… 

The secrets of Halpin’s entire life have always seemed to be locked away—until the doors were thrown open in early January. (The first thing we found out was that Halpin formed a fake catering LLC just to buy oysters from Damariscotta, Maine, at wholesale prices.) 

When we arrived at his brownstone home in Philadelphia, we marched in as instructed. Halpin was plunging a Coravin into a bottle of the Parker 100-point 2005 Quilceda Creek Cabernet. “I used to be on the list before it became hard to get on the list. To get the best values you have to bet big early, and this was a great bet.” he said, depressing the trigger and releasing small pours of Washington State’s standard-bearer for Cabernet into glasses. At today’s price of $250 per bottle those were $40 pours.  

“Welcome to my neighborhood!” Halpin loudly and proudly proclaimed, before ushering us on a tour of his home. First stop: a row of cabinets between the living room and kitchen. “Watch this,” he said, grabbing two knobs and pulling back fast. The cabinets sprung open, rotating to reveal a full bar, and sink filled with ice and 100 oysters, miniature dishwasher, and two full Eurocaves.

“No gawking,” he crowed, leading us up the stairs to his rooftop. Another Eurocave on the landing, just before the door to the roof was full of Champagne. He reached in blindly and pulled out a 2012 Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque, which he sloshed into our empty Quilceda Creek glasses, lending an unnatural pink-hue to the stunning, taut, mineral-rich bubbly. “This is my neighborhood,” he said with arms outstretched to a rather bustling Philadelphia below. “Okay, drink up and let’s be somebody!” he shouted. 

Ten minutes later we were in an oversized Uber with an ice-filled Yeti chest packed with more Perrier-Jouët and his new Halpin Red Blend. “I wanted the Rolls Royce of coolers but couldn’t find a Coleman that fit the bill. When Yeti introduced this V Series in stainless steel I bought two.”

He bought two. They cost $800 a piece—the equivalent of three and a half cases of Halpin’s Red Blend. Well, with one case in tow, rather heavy tow...

The first stop was Royal Izakaya, Philly’s moody hub for “melt-in-your-mouth” sushi. That’s where we had the live scallop with black truffle gold, plus one bottle of Perrier-Jouët. Taking turns handling the Yeti, we walked five minutes to The Hungry Pigeon—grabbed a long table in the back under bird cages and devoured plates of fried chicken, and brought out three Halpin Red Blends, which had been neatly stacked atop the Champagne to achieve a “Yeti-like cellar-temp,” as Halpin put it. 

The five-minute walk to Jim’s Steaks was easier, as the Yeti was getting lighter. Cheese Steak, Pepper Steak, Mushroom Steak, and Pizza Steak hoagies went down nicely with two more (about 56-degree) bottles of Halpin Red. We emptied the ice in the Yeti onto the street outside, Halpin stowed the last bottle of his eponymous Red under his arm “to warm it!” Our watches all beeped in unison: it was now midnight, and we had “less than an hour,” Halpin shouted, to head back to Royal Izakaya for chef Jesse Ito’s off-the-menu “industry” chirashi bowl—the leftover “sushi scraps,” which are really just the odd-cut ends that aren’t right for nigiri. Served in plastic tumblers with seasoned rice, we had to agree with Halpin that it was “the best $15 you’ll ever spend on food.” 

Was it a good idea to start shucking 100 oysters at 2:00am? Was it smart for Alexander Hamilton to fire his gun in the air in the duel with Aaron Burr? “The shower is also a sauna, if you need it,” is the last thing Halpin said, before we fold the rest of the evening into a justifiable NDA. There’s nothing to hide, though, about the 2017 Halpin Red Blend—just packed with layers of red and black fruit and a downright steal at $25 per bottle. Take it from us: Cook one great meal—at home (you don’t have to go to Philly); 6-10 oysters is all that is respectably required for a grand time.    

Spend your money on the wine, not the Yeti. Just 8 barrels produced.