Diamond Creek Red Rock Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
This Red Rock Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon is characterized by distinct velvety tannins, rich and well balanced, medium dark ruby color with cherry, mint and black currant flavors.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Blackberries, blueberries, crushed stones, tile and violets. Medium-to full-bodied with fine, silky tannins. Tight, polished and lightly austere. Sweet fruit in the mid-palate. This needs at least four to five years to open and come together.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Leading with a very deep, Cabernet-specific nose of currants and black cherries layered with notes of dark earth and gently sweetened by a discreet measure of oak, the 2018 Red Rock Terrace is a supple, mouthfilling effort that musters a great deal of varietal richness without throwing so much as a sidelong glance in the direction of pushy ripeness. It moderately tannic as is expected for a serious young Cabernet, but it already exhibits the signs of certain suppleness to come, and, if presently a wine more concerned with unbridled richness than finesse, it is sure to show a more nuanced refinement without any sacrifice of emphatic richness when the six to ten years that its ageworthy structure commends have passed.
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Wine & Spirits
Is this an oldfashioned herb-scented cabernet with a modern gloss of richness? Or is that supple gloss part of the fruit character from the site? A hillside of iron-rich rock, the warmth of this parcel is balanced by its cool northern exposure. Of the estate’s 2018s, this is the one that completely eats its oak, transforming it to scents of marjoram and the cocoa-like depths that might as soon take you to St-Julien as to Diamond Mountain. With several days of air, the tannins have the mineral smokiness of stone hitting stone, their fruit essence close to peach pit or persimmon while the fruit itself shades from wild strawberry to dark raspberry succulence.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Rock Terrace is a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 4.5% Malbec and 4.5% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple, it comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant notes of cassis, plum preserves, cedar chest and pencil lead, plus wafts of black truffles, damp soil and unsmoked cigars. Medium to full-bodied, the palate bursts with black berry flavors and wonderful freshness, packed with loads of subtle savory layers and textured by approachable, plush tannin's, finishing on a lingering fragrant earth note.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and focused, with a racy-edged mix of plum, blackberry ands black cherry fruit that is steeped with anise, violet and bay notes while being underscored with a racy sanguine hint. Flash of alder chimes through the finish, which pulls everything together nicely. Best from 2022 through 2038.
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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.