Diamond Creek Red Rock Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon (375ML half-bottle) 2016
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Red Rock Terrace, a warm microclimate, is 7 acres of north facing vineyard. The red tinted soil is high in iron content. The wine from Red Rock Terrace is the most accessible and earliest drinkable of all Diamond Creek's wines.
Red Rock Terrace has velvety tannins. The wine is rich and well balanced, medium dark ruby color with cherry, mint and black currant flavors.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The aromas of blueberries, blackberries and spices are impressive. Black licorice and iodine. Full-bodied, very linear and tight with a beautiful mouthfeel. Extremely long and polished. Lingering finish. So beautiful now, but better in 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made up of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Rock Terrace is very deep purple-black colored and features profound notions of plum preserves, blackcurrant cordial, Black Forest cake and espresso with suggestions of black tea, fertile loam, cardamom and menthol plus a waft of charcuterie. Medium to full-bodied, the palate packs in the taut, muscular black fruit and savory layers, framed by very ripe, very firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length and depth.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
By the smallest measure the deepest of Diamond Creek’s 2016s, and thus our favorite of an altogether outstanding lot, this striking young Cabernet keys on precise, extraordinarily well-defined varietal fruit and shows the ongoing sense of tailored richness and layering that, year in and year out, is the hallmark of its maker. It is amazingly rich without ever once running to excess and is beautifully proportioned throughout, but as very impressive as it may be now, it is years away from reaching its best and has the look of a wine that will continue to improve for between ten and twenty years.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: I have always felt that Diamond Creek's Red Rock Terrace was the most elegant of the winery's Cabernets. The 2016 vintage shows surprising richness. TASTING NOTES: This wine is chewy and layered on the palate. Its deep black fruit aromas and flavors last long on the palate. Pair it with a standing rib roast. (Tasted: August 19, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Offers a solid core of warmed plum, blackberry and black currant preserve flavors, backed by tobacco and ganache notes. A mouthwatering flash of iron and rippling acidity are buried on the dense and authoritative finish. Features ample grip for the cellar. Best from 2022 through 2040.
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Wine & Spirits
This is a rich vintage of Red Rock, a classic bottling from a north-facing hill of deep, iron-infused soil across from the white ground at Volcanic Hill. The 2016 has the brightness of its sibling, the fruit bold and juicy in dimpled black-cherry ripeness. The terroir impression is hidden by new oak at the moment, the toastiness pointing up the wine’s sweet fruit, the wine ending on some wood tannins. This needs a few years in bottle to integrate, and will likely be ready to drink a few years before Volcanic Hill.
Other Vintages
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.