1987 Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Volcanic Hill

Community Tasting Notes (26) Avg Score: 91.4 points

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  3/12/2021 - Gregory Dal Piaz wrote: 93 Points

  Gorgeous Cabernet with more than a passing resemblance to Bordeaux. Stone, smoke, black currant, saddle leather, medium light, pure vibrant red and clack fruit, linear, tiny dusty tannins, bright, pure, elegant and refined with gentle length

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  3/15/2020 - pcwoz Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Volcanic hill 1987
  
  Dark red fruits. Menthol. Colour still red-purple towards blackberry. Graphite. Nicely integrated spice. Primary to secondary on the nose. Surprisingly so.
  
  Had for Christmas lunch of lamb shoulder. Roast potatoes and sautéed sprouts. Mmmmm
  
  Very smooth. Decent one hour. Very long. Good freshness. Still very good tannic grip though. Restrained. More European in style. Definitely with food.
  
  94-95

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  2/5/2020 - doctornoah Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Classic, aged Cali cab. After reading a few reviews, it's obvious that there are some poorly stored or off bottles out there. A bit sad that Gilman trashed an obviously flawed bottle as I too usually agree with him. This bottle was lovely and on point. A nice green note, and an overall feel of midweight Bordeaux. Tannins soft and largely resolved. Moderate-plus acidity and lovely texture. Still some fading cassis and fresher blackberry on the nose along with leather and a bit of damp earth.
  
  Very nice wine overall.

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  11/2/2019 - oldwines wrote: 94 Points

  I was spurred to try all my 1987 Diamond Creek’s after reading some horrible reviews by both CT users and some “pro’s” including John Gilman of “View From the Cellar” and Steven Tanzer of “Vinous”. Gilman, in particular, I often agree with, so I was quite concerned since I had not tried one of these in many years. They have been in my cellar since release. I decanted all three vineyard cru’s...Gravelly Meadow, Red Rock Terrace and Volcanic Hill at 2:45 pm and tasted them repeatedly and with dinner over the next 8 hours as well as the next day. At first after decanting the wine was medium to dark garnet without any bricking in contrast to what I would have expected at 32 years of age. This was more palatable on PnP than the others but did have the consistent “green” element but less so. The finish was long to very long throughout the evening including initially. After about 3 hours this was singing for me. It was spicy, showing black, green and red pepper along with blackberry bramble, leather, earthy cedar, plum, tart cranberry, game meat, a little graphite, lavender and eucalyptus. It had some chewy weight to it, mostly integrated tannin, good acidity and a long to very long finish. Complex, elegant and delicious with the braised short ribs we had for dinner. Clearly the best of the 3 cru’s in my view, but this is usually my conclusion. I just seem to think this is the best consistently with the exception of the Lake bottling (only made in the best vintages). I don’t think this will improve with any more time but it should remain enjoyable for several years at least.

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  10/27/2019 - Wine_Bear Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Still stunning. A touch farther along in its gentle decline than the bottle from January 2017, but still wonderful. Time to drink if you have any.

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