Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow is a single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from AVA Napa Valley. The estate was established in 1968 by Al Brounstein, the first to bottle 100 percent Cabernet from a single Napa vineyard, who divided the property by soil type and vinified each plot separately. Gravelly Meadow is named for its gravel rich soil, a free draining bed that warms quickly and stresses the vines, encouraging small, thick skinned berries with concentrated colour and tannin. Napa's warm days and cool nights ripen the fruit fully while holding acidity, giving the wine its depth without losing freshness. It is aged for 18 months in 225 litre French oak barrels, where the slow ingress of oxygen through the wood polishes the tannins and adds cedar, vanilla and spice. The result is a full bodied, age worthy Cabernet with blackcurrant and dark cherry, graphite, cedar and a thread of mint, carried on firm, fine grained tannins and a long finish. This is a wine built to cellar. Serve at 17 to 18C and decant for at least an hour. It is made for prime beef and lamb.