The 2002 growing season gave us consistent mild summer days and cool evenings, lending a balance to this wine that is evident even in its youth. Early in the year, the cool foggy mornings kept the acids high. But in September there were several days of 90’s and 100’s, well above average temperatures, with dry winds and little fog, dramatically accelerating the ripening. This concentrated the flavors in the grapes and gave the wine intense colors at harvest. These periodic heat waves were unlike any seen in recent years. We irrigated in the vineyard on a regular schedule to combat any dehydration and raisining, but allowed the grapes to fully mature and continue to hang on the vine for several weeks until harvest in mid-October.

While we initially hoped for a larger crop than the abundant previous vintage, judging from the amount of clusters on the vine early in the season, in the end the selection of bunches at the crusher decreased our yield considerably.

Although 2002 started out as a long, cool growing season, it ended with few spikes of heat which made winemakers nervous that harvest might occur too soon. But the cool season followed by heat in September and then a mild fall actually had the opposite effect on these big wines than expected, creating bold flavors of intensely ripe fruit paired with tremendous balance and elegant tannins.

The 2002 HL Cabernet Sauvignon speaks of the classic Herb Lamb Vineyards fruit – big, spicy, black fruits but with the vineyard’s finesse and balance. Winemaker Mike Trujillo calls this wine "a very forward wine from a serious and classic vintage, big and bold, but with great balance, still showing soft, tame tannins that make it very drinkable in its youth. This wine reminds me of the 1994 vintage, but with more complexity – rich, velvety, silky, with lots of finesse."

In producing the HL Cabernet Sauvignon, we use a blend of center of France oak barrels from barrel makers Nadalie and Tarransaud. Production for the HL wines uses only free run juice – no press wine, no fining – and even though we use all new oak, the flavors certainly don’t overpower the wine.

This Cabernet Sauvignon is both chewy and juicy, showing spicy cocoa and really ripe black fruits with a touch of rich black espresso and opulent dark chocolate in the mouth. This wine ages as it opens up in the glass, softening to show great finesse and balance, and should do nothing but develop further in the bottle.

80 cases produced