2018 Hourglass HG III Proprietary Blend Napa Valley 750 ml

Tony Biagi’s reds have been called “virtually perfect” by Robert Parker. They fetch 98-99 point scores, and can reach $300-$800 per bottle. Needless to say, when the Cade, PlumpJack, and Duckhorn master puts out a bargain Napa Valley red like the Hourglass HGIII, we’re all over it.

Here’s who’s with us on that: Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry and Ad Hoc, Michelin-starred Village Pub in the hills above Silicon Valley, and several Ritz Carltons have all featured HG III by the glass or on their lists at $100+.

Since those outlets are taking a little less than normal (and since we’re tight with Hourglass’s Napa-native vintner Jeff Smith) we’ve got the 2018 edition of Biagi’s Michelin-darling HGIII for far less than the market average. Grab three bottles—in our opinion, just enough for one fabulous meal with friends. 

We don’t know a Napa Valley red that brings better value than this one. Sourced from the Blueline Vineyard that produces Hourglass’s marquee bottlings, as well as Valley sites cultivated during Biagi and Smith’s 60+ combined years in Napa Valley, it’s got everything we want from a Napa Valley red—lush red fruit, profound depth, and serious structure—whether it’s meant to drink young or spend a decade in the cellar.

HG III is Tony Biagi’s brainchild: He set about creating it from a handful of select barrels that were destined for Hourglass’s triple-digit-priced estate reds, and it’s built on a structure of Cabernet from the Blueline Vineyard. This site, which is named for the two “blue-line” streams that run along its edges, lies a stone’s throw from the famed Switchback Ridge and Three Palms Vineyards, and is home soils of fine river gravel and decomposed volcanic ash.

To that Cabernet framework, Biagi adds sleek, approachable Merlot and deep, black-fruited Petite Sirah. After 15 months in new and seasoned French oak, it’s delicious out of the gate: deeply saturated, with voluminous and ripe red cherry fruit with warm baking spices on the nose, and a palate awash in black cherries, plums, vanilla, anise, and mocha. The whole package is framed by splendid silky tannins and enlivened with fresh acidity.

Napa Valley values don’t come much better than this one, a red bearing the fingerprints of one of the Valley’s top talents.