1993 Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA

$300.00 USD $334.00 USD

Press

Diamond Creek Notes

Gravelly Meadow
Planted in 1968 on pebbly brown soil, the Gravelly Meadow Vineyard comprises approximately 5 acres of the Estate.

This wine comes from the five-acre Gravelly Meadow vineyard, a prehistoric river bed filled with well-drained stony, gravelly soils. A low-yielding site and the second coolest of Diamond Creek's vineyards, it produces earthy, ripe wines with lots of spice.

Pebble-strewn Soils in a Pre-historic Riverbed
Gravelly Meadow is a relatively flat site that was once a pre-historic riverbed. Situated in one of the cooler microclimates on the Diamond Creek estate, the vineyard possesses pebbly, porous brown soils which drain rapidly, compelling the vines to struggle for moisture.

Microclimate: Cool/Cooler
Elevation: 550 ft
Soils: Rocky, stony, porous
Aspect: Relatively flat

Tasting Notes
Gravelly Meadow often evokes freshly tilled earth, currant, plum, and ripe blackberry flavors, well-defined, elegant tannins and a mineral, persistent finish.

 

Robert Parker

The 1993 Gravelly Meadow possesses good fruit, extremely high tannin (excessive?), and a medium-bodied, spicy finish. It needs 5-6 years of cellaring as it is atypically backward for a 1993. I have had serious reservations about the quality of Diamond Creek's wines and the dramatic change in style following the 1984 vintage. The 1993 Gravelly Meadow and Volcanic Hill appear to be very good, but they are not made in the style of the great Diamond Creek Cabernets made in 1978, 1977, 1976, and 1974. Amateurs of those wines would not recognize the still tannic but far less concentrated, tough, austere style of wine now being produced. 


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