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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 89.7 pts. and median of 89 pts. in 4 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by jjct on 3/24/2024: Beautiful classic claret, with pure fruit and a light but assertive structure. This feels like it could go further and loosen up a bit. (123 views) | | | Tasted by Vino Loco on 9/7/2021 & rated 87 points: Very light for a Napa Cab, made in what I can best describe as an old world burgundy style - with a weirdly low alcohol at 12.6%. Mild fruits - unripened cherries. Limited complexity and missing that special Rutherford dust I enjoy from other wines in the region. It is fine enough for a glass but insanely low QPR. (1108 views) | | | Tasted by andtheboat on 6/6/2018 & rated 93 points: Steve Matthiasson is the winemaker on this bottle. Very old school in style. Low alcohol, medium bodied, light and aromatic cabernet. Oak is very balanced. Tastes of orange spice and cocoa nibs.
Approachable now but I'll be very interested to try this one in 4-5 years time. (2322 views) | | | Tasted by Millennial Drinkers on 5/31/2018 & rated 89 points: Last stop on our fifth day in Napa Valley is Ashes and Diamonds located just south of Oak Knoll on St. Helena Highway. Second to last wine we will taste is their Vineyard I bottling from the Beckstoffer G III is made by Steve Matthiasson.
Medium ruby red. Dark berries on the nose with a bit of pomegranate, cherries and craisins. Medium tannins (6/10) with a medium body. Very dry on the palate with vanilla, red berries and bramble berries. Some similarities to Beaujolais. Medium plus to long finish. Drink till 2028. (1643 views) |
| By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (1/20/2020)
(Ashes & Diamonds, Vineyard 1 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Napa Valley’s Extraordinary 2016 Cabernets (Dec 2018) (12/1/2018)
(Ashes & Diamonds Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyard 1 No. 1 Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Elin McCoy
Decanter, The new names to know in Napa (7/19/2018)
(Ashes & Diamonds, Cabernet Sauvignon No 1, Napa Valley, Rutherford, California, USA, Red) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JancisRobinson.com and Vinous and Decanter. (manage subscription channels) |
| Ashes & Diamonds Producer website
About the producer
Ashes & Diamonds
In 2013 Jon Bonné published his ground-breaking and, at the time, controversial work, The New California Wine. Bonné’s book brought to light a story previously untold in Californian wine folklore, news of a groundswell of young, dynamic producers swimming against the tide of bombastic and homogeneous wine that prevailed at the time. The subtitle read: a guide to the producers and wines behind a revolution in taste. This was the book Kashy Khaledi, then an executive at Capitol Records, had been waiting for. Restless in his work and “exhausted by exhausting wines”, Bonné’s book and the wines described in its pages, served as his catalyst to take the leap into the wine world, something he had been considering for years.
When Khaledi established Ashes & Diamonds in 2014, he took inspiration from his favourite wines made by the great producers of 1950s, 60s and 70s California, including Mayacamas, Mondavi and Inglenook. The blueprint was a return to honest and classical Napa wines of the past, restrained yet compelling wines that spoke clearly of their origins.
Khaledi’s first coup was to hire the services of two of New California’s brightest talents: viticulturalist Steve Matthiasson (Stags Leap, Spottswoode) and oenologist Diana Snowden Seysses (Robert Mondavi, Domaine Dujac) while securing lease holdings within some prestigious Napa postcodes. Matthiasson and Snowden Seysses share the winemaking and viticultural responsibilities, working closely with small, family-owned vineyards stretching from Santa Cruz to Yountville to make both single-vineyard and multiple-site wines. Both are staunch advocates for sustainable viticulture, partnering with growers to create a harmonious relationship for the humans and the dirt involved—all sites are farmed organically and are dry-grown wherever possible. Added to Matthiasson’s high standing within the Napa viticultural community, there is not usually a lot of arm-twisting required to get growers on board: a rising tide lifts all boats.
In 2017, Ashes & Diamonds found its home in the Oak Knoll District with an impressive vineyard of its own; the custom-built winery was erected the same year. The collaborative approach between Steve and Diana continues—in tune with their unique winemaking ideas, Matthiasson makes multiple-site wines, while Seysses works with single vineyards. The multiple-site wines have a brightness and a freshness that will immediately appeal. On the other hand, Snowden Seysses’ single-site expressions are more deeply cast, and for this reason, the winery holds these wines back for a period in bottle before release. Generally, new oak use is around 30%, there are no extended macerations, fermentations are always natural and there are no acidifications or other additions. Sulphur is used sparingly.
The wines are expressions of their sites through the prism of their talented makers. The flagship Cabernet Franc is an ode to the great wines of the Loire Valley, treated as gently as a Pinot Noir and sitting at an alcohol level reflecting that approach. The red Bordeaux blends embody Khaledi’s aim to emulate the Napa wines of old; they’re refined, complex and terroir-driven. Across the entire portfolio, you will encounter restraint, old-world structure, moderate alcohols, gentle oak influence and a deep expression of site. If this is the ‘New Napa’, then count us in.
Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Rutherford Rutherford,
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