Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Earthy, cedary, jammy and ripe blackberry with a spicy expansive finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Crushed stone fruit, blackcurrants, bay leaf, iodine and seaweed. Full-bodied with blue fruit, firm tannins and super length. It’s austere and so focused. Great length. Needs time to open and show its true self. Harkens back to the late 1970s.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
The Cabernets of this producer invariably vie for top honors among all those that come our way every vintage, and, the only question we ever seem to have is which one will ultimately take its place at the head of the class. This year, it is the one from the winery’s Gravelly Meadow block, and the 2018 version is nothing short of a Napa Valley classic. It is deep, it is complex and it is impeccably crafted stuff that, while very solidly structured and balanced to age famously for upwards of twenty years, already shows the first gleanings of the beauty inherent in genuinely great Cabernet.
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Wine Enthusiast
This pebbly portion of the estate vineyard consists of five acres, originally planted in 1968. With small percentages of Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot, it is woody in forest, graphite and clove, with a silky, rounded and expansive palate of rich, red fruit. With balanced acidity and structure, it has a long, spicy finish of clove and will do well in the cellar. Best after 2028. Cellar Selection
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow is a blend of 78.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.4% Merlot, 8% Malbec and 5.1% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it slips effortlessly from the glass, singing of ripe black cherries, black raspberries and cassis, plus hints of red currants, roses, cinnamon stick and garrigue. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers lovely freshness, offering bags of perfumed black fruits in the mouth, beautifully supported by fine-grained tannins, finishing long with lots of soft-spoken floral and mineral whispers. This perfumed beauty wears the 2018 vintage stamp well, presenting a more delicate expression of this vineyard—one that I love! Rating: 94+
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and a bit showy in feel, with a blast of cassis and plum purée notes liberally laced with violet, singed applewood and red licorice notes. Then a nice mix of iron and warm stone accents cuts in on the finish, pulling everything together as the violet note takes an encore. Best from 2022 through 2038.
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Wine & Spirits
A powerful and tense vintage of Gravelly Meadow, this cabernet emerges from its oak to present a summery, sunny side of Diamond Mountain. It begins to take shape in scents of fresh blackcurrant, complete with leaves and stems, a little liqueurlike against the grip of the tannins, finishing bright and racy.
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2019-
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A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Diamond Mountain is the northernmost mountain appellation in the Mayacamas Range, on the northwest side of the valley floor, above the town of Calistoga. Defined mainly by elevation, vineyards are planted at 400 to 2,200 feet.
Diamond Mountain vineyards receive plenty of sunshine at these elevations and are typically above the coastal fog line. But given its western proximity, the area still easily cools down from early morning and late afternoon Pacific Ocean breezes. The AVA (American Viticultural Area) covers 5,000 acres but just over 500 acres are under vine.
Diamond Mountain soils, mainly weathered, red sedimentary rock and decomposed, volcanic ash, are infertile, quick-draining and produce small, thick-skinned grapes, bursting with chewy tannins.
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Zinfandel have great success here.
Like other sub-appellations in Napa Valley, the Diamond Mountain area had no shortage of pioneer winemakers. Rudy von Strasser led the effort for Diamond Mountain to acquire AVA status in 1999.