Diamond Creek Red Rock Terrace 2005

In 1968 Al Brounstein smuggled a few vines of a mysterious Bordeaux First Growth Estate through Mexico and planted them in a small plot in the Diamond Creek Canyon in the Napa Valley.  Who would have thought that 53 years later, the wines of Diamond Creek would be poured alongside some of the greatest wines in the world?  Wines like Domaine Romaneé Conti, Château d’Yquem, and – perhaps the same Bordeaux First Growth estates whose vines gave birth to this incredible, groundbreaking Napa Valley producer.  Diamond Creek is one of the first terroir-driven single vineyard estates to have emerged from the Napa Valley.  It is a producer of great historical significance to the region that also epitomizes everything that is essential about the unique terroirs in this special place.  A true Cabernet-lover’s dream!
 
Albert "Al" Brounstein, and his wife, Adelle "Boots", were pioneers of the Napa valley.  Al was a colorful personality.  He was the type of individual who once he set his sights on accomplishing a task, followed through to the end with relentless determination.  Following a successful career in pharmaceutical sales, Al fell in love with winemaking after taking a wine class at UCLA.  He spent his weekends working at Ridge Vineyards prior to visiting Diamond Creek Canyon.  The second he set foot in this special Napa Valley AVA, he fell in love and said nine words.  “I love this spot, I’m going to buy it.” That was all it took.  After smuggling some vines from one of the First Growth Estates in Bordeaux, he got to work.  With a meticulous obsession, Al and his wife Adelle, who went by Boots, discovered that Diamond Creek had a series of individually distinctive microclimates.  This gave them both the idea to create individual, single vineyard wines that would highlight these special terroirs.  Though this is fairly commonplace now, back in the day it was revolutionary. When Al passed away in 2006, Boots continued and carried on the couple's vision for Diamond Creek.  After she died in 2019 at the age of 92, the Rouzard family of the world-renowned Maison Louis Roderer and close friends of the Brounsteins, took over operations at this estate.  They honor the legacy of the Brounsteins and continue oto tirelessly work in the vineyards and craft top notch wine.
 
The Diamond Creek Red Rock Terrace is a North-facing and steeply terraced vineyard.  It consists of 7 acres of the Diamond Creek estate.  Elevation in this portion of Diamond Creek goes as high as 600 feet.  What makes this part of Diamond Creek so distinctive is its rocky, red-tinted soil.  Because of this, there’s a high iron content.  The Red Rock Terrace faces North and the grapes receive less direct sunlight.  Interestingly enough, this is one of the estate’s warmest microclimates. The vines are all harvested by hand, as at Diamond Creek they are farmers first and foremost.  After the harvest, the wine is vinified in stainless steel tanks and aged in 100% New French Oak.  The Red Rock Terrace has a savory component to it.  One can expect flavors of tea, iron and dried herbs.  This contrasts beautifully with the dark cherry and black currant elements of this wine coupled with velvety tannins.
 

"The 2005 Red Rock Terrace has a slightly more saturated, ruby/purple color, with a little more backward and introspective personality, more noticeable tannin, and a blacker, more primordial personality. Fuller-bodied and denser, it is rich, young and seems years behind the more precocious and evolved Gravelly Meadow. There is great acid buttressing a youthful, promising, budding superstar of the vintage. Forget it for another 5-6 years, and drink it over the following two decades plus." - Robert Parker Jr, The Wine Advocate (4/28/2009, Issue 194), Ratings: 95+, Drink: 2020-2040