Diamond Creek Vertical tasting at Wine Watch

Only by wine one's heart is lit,

only a poem calms a soul that's torn.

You'd understand me, Tao Qian.

I wish a little sooner I was born!

Tao Yuan-ming

We just got a big collection of Diamond Creek wines in the store and you know what I am most concerned with when we get a collection like this and that is drinking some of the wines to have material for the "What I Drank Yesterday" part of our show.

The late Al Brounstein was one of the pioneers of the concept of terroir in Napa Valley.  His concept of dividing his vineyard into four sites based on the differences in the soils and the climactic conditions was not even a thought on most wine producer’s minds in 1968 when Al founded Diamond Creek Winery.

Diamond Creek Winery was also one of the first collectible wines from Napa with many of the California wine collectors of the 1980's and 1990's stashing these wines away in their cellar with the idea that they needed a decade or two before they would be ready to drink.  In the old days they used to make wine with the intention of having around 12-13% alcohol because that was the model of Bordeaux, the area where many of the first great Cabernet Sauvignon's of Napa were fashioned after.  This meant that in Napa Valley where it is warmer than in Bordeaux the grapes a lot of times were not phenollicallyripe at 23 brix, the level of sugar needed to make a wine at around 13% alcohol.  So many of the wines from the 1970's and 1980's from California had this slightly green hint to the tannins and many people would say that they just needed time in the cellar for the tannins to mellow out.  Diamond Creek wines are an example of wines that need a very long time to really show their stuff, typically 15+ years in an excellent vintage like 1994 or 1995.

These wines are some of the most unique in all of Napa and although they have changed the style of the new wines to reach the new world critics these old wines from this landmark winery are stunning when they are fully mature.

The fee for this tasting is $179 per person + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463.

Diamond Creek Winery Tasting at Wine Watch
Wednesday, May 25th
7pm

1990 Diamond Creek Three Vineyard Blend

An ultra rare blend of all three Vineyards from Diamond Creek.  Wine Spectator: "Austere, but packed with herb, currant, tobacco and plum flavors framed by spicy, toasty oak notes. Rich, intense, concentrated, well focused and in need of cellaring. The finish is thick with tannins and fruit. Best after 1997." (02/93)

1992 Diamond Creek Red Rock Terrace Napa
Price: $124.00    Your Price: $109.12
Quantity in Stock: 2

(91 points)  "Elegant but quite complete, with ripe cherry, sage, spice and berry flavors. Youthful, long and vibrant.--Diamond Creek vertical. Best from 2002 through 2010." (06/98) Wine Spectator

1993 Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill

Still shows plenty of restraint, with its Bordeaux-like presentation of tight, earthy currant, overlay of cedar and tobacco and flashes of mineral, leather and tar. Gains complexity on the finish even as the tannins reveal their youth. Decant. (JL) (11/2003)  Wine Spectator

1995 Diamond Creek Cabernet Volcanic Hill Napa
Price: $135.00    Your Price: $118.80
Quantity in Stock: 3

Eucalyptus and fine herbs to the currant and cassis with espresso and dark coco notes to the nose, some funk showing here mingling with the other aromas very nicely.  A slight bitter note to the fruit here but mellowing out nicely on the finish nice freshness and a long finish echoing the spice from the nose through the finish.  Finish 45+    Excellent +

1997 Diamond Creek Cabernet Volcanic Hill Napa
Price: $159.00    Your Price: $139.92
Quantity in Stock: 10

Lively, chewy lift. Full, healthy damson flavours with lots of mineral stuffing. A long-distance runner. 18/20 points. (JR) (3/2002) Jancis Robinson

2004 Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow Cabernet Sauvignon Napa
Price: $195.00    Your Price: $171.60
Quantity in Stock: 3

(95 points)  The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Gravelly Meadow takes its name from the brown, stony, gravelly soils of this 5-acre vineyard. It possesses that crushed rock, smoky barbecue note that resembles a top-class Pessac-Leognan from Bordeaux. A dark ruby/purple color is followed by wonderfully sweet, concentrated red and black fruits, a certain smoky earthiness, sweet tannin and a textured, full-bodied mouthfeel. This potentially profound red wine can be drunk over the next 20 years. From an aromatic complexity perspective, it may eclipse the Red Rock Terrace. Lastly, the biggest of these single vineyards is the 8-acre site known as Volcanic Hill, whose white tufa volcanic soils are in total contrast to the gravelly soils and red, iron-rich, clay soils of its two siblings. 95+ (RP) (4/2014) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2004 Diamond Creek Red Rock Terrace
Price: $210.00    Your Price: $184.80
Quantity in Stock: 5

(95 points)  Deep and keenly defined fruit sits at the heart of this complex and impressively extracted young Cabernet, and, even if toughened just now by its undisguised tannins, the wine effortlessly conveys compelling impressions of layering and real range with its fine juxtapositioning of vanilla, cassis, black olives and loamy soil spice. It is perfectly ripened with nary the least hint of excess, and it stands as a classic varietal working whose future is as sure as sure gets. (8/2007) Connoisseurs Guide

2004 Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill
Price: $165.00    Your Price: $145.20
Quantity in Stock: 7

(96 points)  The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Volcanic Hill is the most primordial, concentrated, masculine and meaty wine of this trio. It possesses surreal concentration as well as a stunningly opaque ruby/purple color, and wonderfully sweet tannin. Its layers of concentration and richness eclipse the more elegant, perfumed Gravelly Meadow and more solidly constructed Red Rock Terrace. Like its siblings, it remains ten years away from full maturity. (RP) (4/2014) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Menu

Duck and Smoked mozzarella ravioli with sundried mushroom chips and browned sage butter

Braised Beef Short Rib with Mole Sweet Potato Au Gratin

The fee for this tasting is $179 per person + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463.