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Vintages
2017
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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Drinking window: Drink between 2022 and 2034 (based on 2 user opinions) |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 4 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by MRGeo on 5/15/2023 & rated 90 points: Big, smooth, but not overly heavy CS; very fruit forward red wine. Dark red/purple color. Nose of dark berries and fresh cut green herbs. Taste has a Very smooth mouthfeel. Flavors of blueberries, strawberries, currants right up front. Little smokey with hint of cedar in middle. Tight tannins on back end with red fruit of ripe red delicious apples and raspberries. (377 views) | | | Tasted by mayakacz on 5/8/2021: Medium+ ruby purple.
Nose of blackberry, blueberry, coffee, vanilla, cloves, VA, floral.
Very light intensity flavour, with noted Cab Franc - taste of red cherry, blueberry jam, coffee. High acidity. (618 views) | | | Tasted by isaacjamesbaker on 8/1/2020 & rated 94 points: Ashes & Diamonds: Medium purple color. So fresh and inviting on the nose, with chilled black cherries, plums, topped generously with spicy black tea, clove, plenty of rocky, dusty tones, with pepper, violets. Fresh and crisp on the palate, this is a medium-bodied Cabernet (13%) with structured but fine tannins and incredible balance and mouthfeel. Cool black cherries, crunchy plums and wild blackberry fruit mix so well with mint, tilled soil, violets, clove. Lots of pepper, mushroom and mineral tones come out, more so with air. This is beautiful but needs several years at least to show its best. From a 2,100-foot vineyard on a 30% southeast slope. Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Cabernet Franc, aged 19 months in 40% new French oak. (945 views) |
| 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 SauvignonBates RanchSeehttp://scmwine.wikispaces.com/Bates+Ranch
On weinlagen-infoUSAAmerican 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 Santa Cruz Mountains Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association | Wikipedia
Once referred to by wine writers as the Chaine d'Or -- or "golden chain" -- the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA sits above Silicon Valley, running along the craggy range next to the Pacific on some of the prettiest parts of Northern California. The area supports more than 75 wineries, despite being limited by geography and high land prices.
In 1981 the Santa Cruz Mountains Viticultural Appellation became federally recognized, one of the first American viticultural areas to be defined by geophysical and climatic factors. The appellation encompasses the Santa Cruz Mountain range, from Half Moon Bay in the north, to Mount Madonna in the south. The east and west boundaries are defined by elevation, extending down to 800 feet in the east and 400 feet in the west. |
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