Winemaker Notes
Red Rock Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon is a medium dark ruby color with cherry, mint and black currant flavors. It has velvety tannins, rich and well balanced. The wine from Red Rock Terrace is the most accessible and earliest drinkable of all Diamond Creek wines.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Rich, creamy and layered, with a complex mix of plum, wild berry, mineral and espresso flavors. As smooth-textured as this gets early on, with a wonderful finish that sails on. Seductive and alluring. Drink now through 2024. 406 cases made.
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Wine Enthusiast
Tastes fairly straightforward now, with frest, vigorous blackberry, blueberry, cherry, anise and mocha flavors that have a minerally bite. The tannins are tough, gritty and dry, as befits a young Cabernet grown on Diamond Mountain. Needs time, and lots of it. Hold until after 2016, at least.
Cellar Selection
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.