NAPA VALLEY, CA (December 5, 2022) – HALL Napa Valley, one of the leading Cabernet Sauvignon producers, has announced that their recently released 2019 Platinum Collection wines include smart bottle technology with near-field communication, also known as NFC. The NFC technology allows HALL customers to use their smartphones to connect to encrypted sticker tags that are affixed onto each wine bottle. The NFC technology serves four purposes; certify authenticity, identify any tampering, allow the customer to register the bottle, and to provide access to exclusive behind-the-scenes content about these special wines.
“Ensuring the integrity of our Platinum Collection wines are never jeopardized, the new NFC tags will help protect, inform and provide the collector with additional information about the wine,” says Vintner Kathryn Hall. “The custom NFC tags help communicate to the buyer the wine bottle’s integrity after it leaves our winery through a high-tech, encrypted digital system.”
HALL partnered with Minnesota-based company, Clarity Authentication Systems, to design custom NFC tags for the 2019 Platinum Collection wine series. HALL is a leader in the luxury wine space by including the new, high-tech, custom program included into their packaging. The custom tags include hardware on the exterior of the wine bottles as well as customized digital experience specifically for Platinum Collection purchasers. The software includes a digital communication system that alerts buyers of any tampering, bottle authenticity, a registration platform that allows for ownership tracking, and access to exclusive content that can only be viewed through the NFC scan.
Each Platinum Collection bottle, beginning with the 2019 vintage, is secured with two NFC tags. These tags have a semi-conductor chip with a unique identification number, allowing HALL to program specific, encrypted information into each bottle. Most smartphones are equipped with an internal NFC reader, therefore when the purchaser holds his or her smartphone over the NFC chip, it will verify the bottle’s authenticity and its chain of custody.
One of the bottle’s NFC chips is at the neck of the bottle and is connected to a metal tail that extends over the capsule and secures the opening of the bottle. If the tail is broken, removed, or tampered with, it will alert the purchaser when holding the smartphone over the NFC chip.
Platinum Collection purchasers will also have access to exclusive digital content that will offer curated videos from the winemaking team, provide vintage perspectives, and detail vineyard statistics for each of the wines with notes from HALL’s Vineyard teams. This content can only be accessed when the purchaser holds his or her smartphone over the NFC tags.
The Platinum Collection launched in 2012 when the winemaking team began separating a few select barrels of wines from distinct lots to bottle them individually. HALL discovered that each year there are tiny batches of superlative wine from extraordinary vineyard locations that stand above the rest and thus, the Platinum Collection was born.
“Our focus is on the vineyard, with thoughtful attention to every detail of the growing season from pruning to harvest,” says Vice President of Winemaking, Megan Gunderson. “We employ gentle care and minimal intervention to allow the wine to express its true personality and connection to the land. These wines are simultaneously elegant and dense, and convey a clear glimpse into the soil, slopes and climate from which they came.”
HALL’s Platinum Collection wines have each received exceptional reviews from the most respected critics in the wine industry, including six 100-point scores for the 2019, 2018, 2016 twice, 2014, and 2013 vintages of the Rainin Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2019 vintage of HALL’s Platinum Collection series includes three wines:
2019 HALL ‘BELLER VINEYARD’ CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Appellation: Napa Valley
The Beller vineyard is located on Mt. Veeder and sits atop a ridgeline at 1500 ft, amongst the Mayacamas Mountain Range in Napa. The unique terroir of this steep mountainous appellation produces powerful wines yet refined in structure. Each vintage of our Beller Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is produced from the finest barrels sourced from our very best blocks throughout this singular site. An exceptional example of Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine is full of dark, voluptuous fruit, bold, focused tannin and floral-herbal aromatics. 2019 vintage: 97+pts, Wine Advocate
2019 HALL ‘SACRASHE VINEYARD’ CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Appellation: Rutherford
The Sacrashe Vineyard is home to HALL’s first 100-point wine, its 2010 Exzellenz. The site is ideally located in the prized Sacrashe Estate Vineyard, hidden atop the eastern ridge of the Vaca Mountain range located in Rutherford, California. With extremely limiting volcanic tuff soils and gentle sloping aspects, this vineyard yields fruit that is always rich, dense, earthy, and opulent, possessing a purity of focus and pronounced power. The wine exudes dark and pure, voluptuous fruit.
2019 vintage: 96+pts, Wine Advocate
2019 HALL ‘RAININ VINEYARD’ CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Appellation: Diamond Mountain District
The Rainin Vineyard, founded in 1998 by the Rainin family, is a bucolic, eight-acre site located on the rugged volcanic slopes of Diamond Mountain. The vines are nestled amongst majestic pine forests and redwood groves. This wine opens with aromas of juniper, crushed violet and dried, dark plum. The palate is lush with dense, purple and black briary fruit and a rich tannin structure. Muscular and opulent, the flavors cascade through the long finish. This wine has earned six 100-point ratings, including the 2019 vintage, by the industry’s top critics.
2019 vintage: 98pts, Wine Advocate
Due to the pedigree and extremely limited production quantity, access to HALL’s Platinum Collection is restricted to a special allocation list. The wines are sold only through this allocation list or in-person during one of HALL’s Platinum Tasting Experiences at HALL St. Helena or HALL Rutherford. The wines retail for $375.00 each.
ABOUT HALL Wines: The Art of Cabernet
HALL is a family-owned multi-generational winery that produces award-winning Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons in Napa Valley in St. Helena and Rutherford. Owned by Craig and Kathryn Hall, the winery produces artisan wines that express the unique and diverse character of the wine country’s soils and climates through meticulous attention to detail in the vineyards and the winemaking process. The family’s luxury wine portfolio, led by Vice President of Winemaking Megan Gunderson, sources fruit from the most prominent vineyards up and down the West Coast. HALL focuses on producing distinctive Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings highlighting the finest vineyards and sub-appellations of the Napa Valley. The HALL St. Helena Winery was the first LEED® Gold Certified Winery in the State of California in 2009 and earned another LEED® Gold certification for its high-tech production facility and Tasting Room in 2014, making HALL a leader in sustainability. For more information about HALL, please visit www.hallwines.com or by calling 707.967.2626. @hallwines #artofcabernet.
