Winemaker Notes
Diamond Creek's second coolest micro-climate is the five-acre Gravelly Meadow vineyard. Originally a pre-historic river bed, this stony, gravelly soil drains rapidly and the vines struggle for moisture.
Gravelly Meadow is the winery's lowest yielding vineyard. The wines are described as "earthy, cedary, jammy and ripe blackberry with a spicy expansive finish."
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow opens with a lovely floral perfume of violets and rose hip tea with a core of chocolate-covered cherries, mulberries, blueberry compote and plum preserves plus hints of wood smoke, tobacco and menthol. Full-bodied and firmly framed with grainy tannins and background freshness, it has gorgeous earthy layers and a mineral-tinged finish.
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James Suckling
The aromas of mint, blueberries and blackberries are very intense. Full-bodied, layered and softly textured; yet it delivers a firm and lightly chewy finish. Hot stones, too. This is a wine that will improve with three to four years of bottle aging.
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Vinous
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow is impeccable. Crème de cassis, blackberry jam, incense, chocolate and a healthy dose of French oak are front and center. The 2015 is in a beautiful spot where the tannins have softened, and yet the wine retains superb freshness and plenty of fruit intensity. The opulent style favored at the time is very much in evidence. Today, the Gravelly Meadow strikes me as the most complete of the three wines. It offers plenty of vintage 2015 richness, without the excessive oak found in the Volcanic Hill or the Brett of the Red Rock Terrace, all while conveying plenty of site character.
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Wine Enthusiast
Soy, tobacco and dried herb mark this appropriately named wine, which does indeed have a gravelly, chalky aspect to its texture and taste. From a five-acre vineyard block of the estate, it is endlessly complex and nuanced, despite its full-bodied richness and concentration.
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Wine Spectator
Tight and focused on a core of currant, blackberry, spice, black licorice and cedar flavors, gliding along on the aftertaste, which is pure and plush. This gets better with aeration. Best from 2021 through 2033.
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Wine & Spirits
Planted on a gravel wash along the south bank of Diamond Creek in 1968, the vines at Gravelly Meadow took a while to get established. Phil Steinschriber made this wine from the concentrated yields of those old, thick-trunked beasts. In 2015, the wine feels as thick as those trunks, black fruited and rich. There’s grip to the tannins and some volatility adding a bruised-fruit note to the finish, youthfully intense, needing bottle age to mellow and integrate.
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.