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Description
Description
Diamond Mountain is located at the northwestern side of Napa Valley, near Calistoga. Earth-friendly practices are used to prevent rain erosion on the terraced hillsides. Partial barrel fermentations, in-barrel malolactic fermentation and new French oak all contribute to this wine's complexity. The bold, ripe flavors complement full-bodied entrees, especially grilled steak with small red potatoes drizzled with sage butter.
Wine & Vintage Details
Wine & Vintage Details
Tasting Note
Our 2015 Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon expresses the bold, mountain-grown fruit of its provenance; a vineyard on Diamond Mountain, which is part of the Mayacamas Range that flanks Napa Valley on the west side. Terroir nuances of forest loam, slate, graphite, as well as dried herbs like mountain sage, anise seed, and wild violet layer the intense macerated blackberry, dark plum, blueberry, black cherry and mocha aromas. Supported by sweet baking spice notes from the oak barrel integration, you'll find allspice, vanilla bean, cardamom and charred toast notes coming from new French oak barrels. From the full, rich and silky entry on the palate to the persistent, dark-fruit lengthy finish, the wine is beautifully balanced and well structured. Muscular, yet fine-grained tannins support the wine and promise cellar worthiness. Consider decanting this wine if you choose to enjoy it in its youth.
Vintage
Although in 2015 we received three-quarters of our normal rainfall, the cumulative effect of four years of drought in Napa Valley resulted in a light crop. Fortunately, the vintage made up for the small quantity by yielding outstanding grape quality. The small clusters and dry, warm conditions promoted an early, condensed harvest that kept us hopping. At Provenance, we began the harvest picking Sauvignon Blanc on August 8 and wrapped up the vintage with Cabernet Sauvignon by October 12. The wines of 2015 are known for their highly concentrated, complex flavors.
Vineyard & Winemaking Details
Vineyard & Winemaking Details
Diamond Mountain AVA
Vineyard
The beautiful, forested Diamond Mountain District, designated an American Viticultural Area in 2001, rises 2,200 feet above northern Napa Valley. Armstrong Ranch sits high atop Diamond Mountain, just west of Calistoga. The vineyard blocks are planted on an extreme hillside with an elevation range of 850 to 1,200 feet. The thin, volcanic soils are laden with obsidian (volcanic glass) and very limiting; each vine produces only 2 tons per acre. Due to the varying elevations and row orientations, this vineyard is typically harvested three or four different times; sometimes a quarter of a row is left behind to ripen further. All of these factors make it a difficult place for a grape vine, and the resulting wines are incredibly rich in flavor with a complex tannin structure..
Winemaking
We hand sorted the grapes first in the vineyard, as we picked them at dawn, and then again at the winery for optimum quality. We cold soaked the must for gentle extraction and fermented it in a combination of 60-gallon oak barrels (to seamlessly integrate tannins) and stainless steel tanks. Following extended maceration and pressing, the wine completed malolactic fermentation in barrels to round the acidity and enrich the mouthfeel. Gentle rackings naturally clarified the wine, while barrel aging melded complex oak nuances with the ripe, dark-fruit expression.
Trevor Durling - Former Winemaker
Trevor grew up in nearby Sonoma County, one of the wine hubs of Northern California. Wine was a staple at his family dinner table, and he enrolled in the Viticulture and Enology program at the University of California, Davis. After an internship at Sonoma-Cutrer in 2003 and two consecutive harvest internships making sparkling wine at Gloria Ferrer, Trevor joined Moon Mountain Vineyard, a small, well-regarded organic vineyard in Sonoma, shortly after his graduation from UC Davis. In March of 2010, Trevor joined the winemaking team at Hewitt Vineyard and Provenance Vineyards and was appointed senior winemaker in 2015.
"From a winemaking standpoint, we have access to some of the best fruit in Napa Valley, not just from our estate in Rutherford, but also from Carneros in the south all the way up to Calistoga in the north. Our job is to make sure that each wine is balanced, complex, exciting and representative of its terroir."
| Alcohol % | 14.9% |
|---|---|
| Oak Treatment | Aged 22 months in French oak barrels (75% new barrels) |
| pH | 3.63 |
| Blend | 100% Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Case Production | 243 cases |