My first Gravelly Meadow from Diamond Creek. Was curious how it would stack up against my favorite Napa Cabernets. Decanted for 3 hours prior to drinking.
It’s an incredibly complex, big, impressive wine. Black and dark red fruit that’s baked/smashed, over ripe. Some coffee and menthol.
The first thing that jumped out to me was how smooth and velvety the mouthfeel was.
Really good, I still have a few ahead of it in my Napa Power Rankings.
Anyone else had this wine? I’d like to have it again a little bit older.
by No_Entrance_5683
7 Comments
Diamond Creek is fantastic. They are big wines that are made to age, so drinking them young can be challenging. In my opinion they generally peak at around 15 years and can easily be in their prime at 20 years or more. I’d recommend finding some older vintages – they usually have some library wines available. Cheers!
Got a chance to taste the volcanic hill and the mouthfeel was the first thing I noticed as well. Silky smooth yet mouth filling tannin, not a touch over the top either!
DC slaps
I actually just finished a 1984 volcanic hill bottle , at 30 minutes it was delicious but started fading at 90 minutes pretty quickly. I say incredible bottle but don’t go too slow
It’s a great bottle. I like red rocks a little more but they’re an incredible producer
What do you think of Volcanic Hill and Red Rock Terrace? The vineyards are are close together yet all three have very different characters. Gravelly is my favorite of them, I think it’s the most elegant, the most Bordeaux-esque. I’ve tasted Gravelly vintages going back to the 80s. As big as these wines are I think they’re far more accessible in their youth than most other “big” Napa cabernets.
They’re beautiful wines that need age. Not many great deals to be had with them though. Would strongly recommend their vineyard tour, one of the best I’ve done in Napa.