Hourglass
Jeff Smith had the unique experience of growing up around the dinner tables of many prominent wine families who transformed Napa Valley into a world class wine growing region. With this unique vantage point, he noticed a paradigm shift in the early ‘90s toward small terroir driven estate wines… wines truly defined by their place. He took a small four acre family vineyard in St. Helena, replanted it to Cabernet, enlisted the help of winemaker friend Bob Foley, and launched Hourglass.
From the inaugural 1997 release, the Hourglass estate bottling has evolved into one of Napa’s most esteemed Cabernets. In 2006, with the help of two partners, Mr. Smith procured the Blueline estate in the Calistoga appellation with the goal of finding a new vineyard site that could dovetail with the Hourglass estate.
Since 2006 Mr. Smith has gone about building a winery at Blueline to house the Hourglass production and crafted a series of vineyard designated wines (Cabernet, Cab Franc, and Merlot) under the Hourglass label that are a reflection of their unique vineyard sites.
hourglasswines.com