Hourglass

Hourglass
1104 Adams Street, Suite 103
St. Helena, California
USA 94574
Phone: (707) 968-9332
http://www.hourglasswines.com

Contact: Marybeth Egner
Email: [email protected]

The Hourglass vineyard is located at the "pinch" of the constricting Napa Valley, about two miles north of the town of St. Helena in the heart of the St. Helena AVA (American Viticulture Area) . In a zip code known for stellar Cabernet, its neighbors include among others, Grace Family, Colgin's Tychson Hill, the Ahern vineyard, Duckhorn, Freemark Abbey, and Vineyard 29.
The Smith family bought the six acre parcel that eventually became Hourglass in 1976. With no great aspirations to be in the wine business, Ned Smith planted four acres to his favorite wine grape, Zinfandel, with the hope of being able to trade grapes for finished wine. The vineyard fed several local Zinfandel blends until the early '90s when the vineyard was ravaged by phylloxera.
With the vines needing to be replanted, Ned's son Jeff took over the management of the vineyard. Through a mutual friend, Kelly Maher, he persuaded Dr. Mark Kliewer (Dean of the viticulture program at UC Davis and one of the world's premier specialists in grape growing climates), to provide a site evaluation. After his analysis, Dr. Kliewer concluded that this location could become one of the premier Cabernet sites in Napa County. He explained that Napa Valley is generally shaped like an hourglass, and the hillside site defined the "pinch," or narrowest point of the Valley. Its unique location would provide an unusual growing climate. Of course, there could be no other name for this special place than Hourglass.

Winemaker: Bob Foley

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