Lot Overview
- Region: 100% Diamond Mountain District, Napa Valley
- Vintage: 2023
- Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
- Oak Aging: ~70% new French oak
- Alcohol: 14.8%
- Cases Available: ~150
- Cam Price: ~$25/bottle ($299/case)
- Retail Estimate: $150–$300+/bottle
- Claude’s Source Guess: Diamond Creek Vineyards — Diamond Mountain District
- Wine Berserkers Guess: Diamond Creek Vineyards ✓ (same as Claude)
- Chat Guess: Lokoya or Vineyard 7 & 8
- Drink Window: 2028–2050+ (peak 2033–2045)
Cameron’s Release Notes
Not a lot can be said about the winery — a legendary producer on Diamond Mountain with low-to-mid three-figure price points for even their lowest-end offering. I’m prevented from saying much more, so I’ll let your imagination take it from there. The wine is, in a word, exquisite.
Tasting Notes
Opaque in the glass. The bouquet is chock full of iron, mineral-infused red rock and violets tightly enmeshed with blackcurrant, hints of cedar, anise, graphite, and scorched earth. Raspberry and mocha peek through with air. Surprisingly smooth on entry it is nevertheless tightly wound around a robust framework of black and red fruit-flecked tannins and crushed red rock minerality framed with chocolatey oak in a long, sweeping finish. Full-bodied yet supremely elegantly structured — seamless, precise, and exquisitely balanced.
⏳ Bottle Shock Status: Bottling August 2025. Allow minimum 2–3 years before opening.
Claude’s Source Guess: Diamond Creek Vineyards — Diamond Mountain District
Diamond Creek Vineyards, founded in 1968 by Al Brounstein and acquired by Louis Roederer in 2020, is one of Diamond Mountain’s founding legends and arguably its most storied estate. Their three single-vineyard Cabernets — Volcanic Hill, Red Rock Terrace, and Gravelly Meadow — all start at $150–175 and range well above $200 on the secondary market, making them precisely “a legendary producer with low-to-mid three figures for even their lowest-end offering.”
Cam’s tasting note is almost a literal description of Diamond Creek’s house terroir — “iron, mineral-infused red rock and violets” maps directly to their Red Rock Terrace site, and “crushed red rock minerality” and “scorched earth” are hallmark descriptors of Diamond Creek’s volcanic iron-rich soils. The Louis Roederer acquisition in 2020 brought fresh management and resources to the estate, potentially creating the kind of inventory rationalization that produces surplus lots for négociants like Cam. The 150-case production is consistent with a small parcel or single barrel selection from one of Diamond Creek’s three vineyard blocks.
WB independently landed on Diamond Creek, which reinforces the identification. Chat’s Lokoya guess is understandable — also a legendary Diamond Mountain producer — but Lokoya’s entry price is $300+ with no lower tier, while Diamond Creek has multiple wines starting at $150–175, fitting the “lowest-end offering” language more precisely.
✅ Confidence: Very High — legendary status, $150+ entry price tier, multiple vineyard blocks on Diamond Mountain, iron/red rock tasting notes, and WB independent identification all align.
Drink Window
Early: 2028 — 14.8% alc and 70% new oak from Diamond Mountain need 3–4 years minimum.
Peak: 2033–2045. Diamond Creek Cabs are built for 20–30 year aging arcs.
Hold: 2050+. Cam says “just a baby now” and he’s right.
My Call: ⏳ Drink window: 2028–2050+ (peak 2033–2045)