2007 HdV Belle Cuisine

[TheEngineer]

HdV or Hyde de Villaine, Hyde, being Larry Hyde the large vineyard owner in Napa and de Villaine, being Albert de Villaine of Domaine Romanee Conti from Burgundy is a small 3000 case winery in the south side of Napa (along the Silverado trail).

Apparently Albert married Larry's cousin so there is some familial relationships now.

The wine that initially got my attention was their syrah, made in a more cooler climate style, not quite the big bruisers that can be made from it. While definitley not a shy wine, it still had a certain elegance to it. Until reently, I preferred the Syrah to their Bordeaux blend, perhaps more to familiarity than anything else. but as I have tried more recently, their clordeaux blends are showing very nicely.

The colour of thw iens is definitly dark with a ting of black, a bit misterious to me frankly, good complexity, with a bit of black olives that I like frmo cooler climate merlots, dark fruit, defintitely a bit of pencil lead, black pepper, spice. Good tannin management, not overtly rough, nice structure behind that. Mouth has a very balanced feel but it is a densely flavored wine. Complex but nicely put together. Lovely really and for the price, not a bad thing. ($60 at winery, $40 retail).