Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Loads of blue fruit, violets and lavender. Flowers everywhere. Full body and medium chewy tannins. Bright and vivid. Tangy and long. Needs four to five years to open. Try in 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Volcanic Hill is a little youthfully subdued and broody at this early stage, revealing black soil, truffles and tapenade notions over a blackberry and cassis core, plus a touch of chocolate box. The medium to full-bodied palate springs to life with vibrant black fruit and subtle earth and savory suggestions, framed by rounded tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing long.
Rating: 96+ -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Mastering the beast, I have always had a soft spot for the 2014 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon. While the wine has often been super tannic, I never found it too tough. This vintage is one of the best this property has yielded. (Tasted: August 21, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Offers a frame of dusty, cedary oak around a core of loamy dark berry, anise, licorice and blackberry flavors. Deftly balanced, this is tempting now but worthy of cellaring. Best from 2020 through 2032.
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.