Wine Reviews

A chocolatey nose with mulberries, plums, vanilla and spice box. Full body with chewy tannins. Rich with plenty of chocolate and black fruit. Creamy texture and a firm finish. Drink from 2024.

Awarded a Gold medal.

Thomas Rivers Brown is the winemaker responsible for this delightful Napa Cab. Made from 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon grown in the Diamond Mountain District, it is aged for 20 months in 80 percent new French oak and is bottled unfined and unfiltered. It is garnet-ruby in color with aromas of crushed violets, pencil lead, and ripe black fruits in the bouquet. The palate offers flavors of cassis, black raspberry, and tobacco leaf with silky tannins and a finish that goes on and on. Only 250 cases produced.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon bursts with intense black and red cherries, boysenberries and warm cassis notes, plus wafts of cedar, pencil lead, wild sage and truffles. The palate is medium to full-bodied with tightly knit, fine-grained tannins and lovely freshness supporting the muscular fruit, finishing long and minerally.

The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon is exceptional. In fact, the 2019 is one of the best editions of this wine in recent memory. A rush of blackberry jam, cloves, licorice, menthol, lavender and espresso hits the palate. Plush and deep, with plenty of structure, the 2019 is a great example of Diamond Mountain Cabernet done in an unapologetically flamboyant style.

One of my two favorite sub-AVA’s of Napa Valley brings us this Cabernet Sauvignon, one made beautiful through the struggle of growing in the region.  There’s a red fruit stamp that often originates from the area, and it’s well displayed here through careful oak selection that serves to accentuate the fruit without burying it.  Well done!  Made by Thomas Rivers Brown.

The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon offers a compelling interplay of richness and energy. Bright floral and spice notes add energy to a core of crème de cassis, raspberry jam, chocolate, new leather, spice and lavender. Give this potent Cabernet a year or two to soften.

Wallis Family’s 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon (100%) is intensely aromatic, delivering a rush of fruit and earth notes with a hint of purple flowers that will surely impress. It boasts black cherry, blackberry, plum, cigar box, and subtle savory flavors on the palate. It is incredibly rich in fruit while retaining freshness and a lingering savoriness that is impossible not to love.

Coming from the Diamond Mountain District in the northern part of the Valley, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain District reveals a dense purple hue as well as a textbook Cabernet nose of ripe blackcurrants, lead pencil, damp earth, and chocolate. Rich, medium to full-bodied, plush, and beautifully textured, this is in the running for the top wine at the price point. Drink it any time over the coming 15+ years.

Deep purple color. Inviting aromas and flavors of chocolate toffee, bubbly berry pie crust, frozen French vanilla yogurt, and hint of dried flowers with a satiny, vibrant, fruity medium-full body and a seamless, charming, medium-long finish imparting shades of dried berries in cream, cedar, and roasted nuts with wellintegrated, dusty tannins and moderate oak flavor. A lively Napa Cabernet with nicely balanced fruit and structure and a youthful stride.

Very deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon features bold notions of creme de cassis, blueberry compote and blackberry pie plus nuances of tar, unsmoked cigars, beef drippings and garrigue with a waft of lavender. The medium to full-bodied palate has a rock-solid structure of firm grainy tannins and lovely freshness lifting the dense, muscular black fruit and earthy layers to a long, mineral-tinged finish.

Fresh black cherry, blackberry leaf, iodine and bark on the nose. It’s medium-to full-bodied with powerful, fine-grained tannins. Fresh and structured with focused fruit and spice flavors. Needs a couple of years. Try from 2022.

A beautiful and elegant Napa Valley Cabernet. Hold for at least 10 years! This wine will age beautifully if held onto. The wine is made with great finesse and showcases some of the best fruit in Napa.

Awarded a Double Gold medal.

Awarded 90 points.

Leathery tobacco and an earthy hint of gravel open this full-bodied wine, which follows with a sizable concentration of wild blueberry fruit. Accents of vanilla and coconut highlight the integrated oak, which persists on the long finish.

Awarded a Double Gold medal.

The Diamond Mountain District is one of the most coveted sites for Cabernet Sauvignon in California. There is a reason for that, and it is in evidence here. This wine shows extraordinary depth and concentration, and is richly layered and complex, with aromas of blackberry, cassis and spice. The balance is exquisite and the finish dazzling and long. Platinum Award win.

The famed Diamond Mountain District has a worthy representative in this bottling, showing black and blue fruit, fall spice and earthy notes that ride a rustic tannin profile through a long finish that already shows integration. As the rusticity loosens and fades into elegance, this will taste better and better. That said, it would be great now with well marbled beef or game. A Platinum Award Winner at the 2020 San Diego International Wine & Spirits Challenge.

Violet color. Inviting aromas and flavors of crusty dark berry tart, chocolate craisin and orange peel, waxy honeycomb, and hint of leather with a supple, vibrant, dry-yet-fruity medium-full body and an effortless, involved, long finish manifesting notes of blueberries, violet and orange blossom water, and roasted pecans with chewy, drying tannins and moderate oak flavor. A rich and chewy Napa Cabernet that is drinking with vigor and poise now, yet promises greater rewards with cellaring

Excellent showcase of Diamond Mountain. Over priced but that is what elite winemakers cost. Age this wine for at least 5 years, and decant to showcase the depth and complexity this wine has to offer.

Awarded 98 points and a Double Gold medal.

This is a 100% varietal wine made by sought-after winemaking consultant Thomas Rivers Brown. It delivers a powerful package of plum and dark chocolate. Earthy tobacco and sage meld with grippy, youthful tannins to showcase a well-structured offering. Enjoy 2024–2029.

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon is a gorgeous, exotic beauty. Super-ripe red cherry, plum jam, mocha, new leather, licorice and pomegranate abound. Although not exactly a wine of site, the 2016 is flat out delicious and will be impossible to resist, even in its youth. Readers should expect a heady, flamboyant style

The base cuvée is the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon and it too comes all from the Diamond Mountain AVA, which in is the northwestern part of the valley. Aged in 80% new oak, it gives up beautifully classic notes of red and black fruits, dried earth, spice box, and savory herbs. It’s classic Diamond Mountain on the palate and is more supple, rounded, and sexy, with a layered, full-bodied style. Undeniably charming and delicious, it’s going to keep for 10-12 years.

The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon pushes ripeness to the extreme. Jammy black fruit, graphite, chocolate, flowers and copious new French oak nearly cover the Diamond Mountain tannins. If the 2013 settles down and acquires a little more nuance it may very well merit a higher score, but today it comes across as a bit overdone.

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon is more backward than the Little Sister, with more tannic structure as well as abundant cremede cassis, blackberry, unsmoked cigar tobacco and forest floor characteristics. This impressive, structured, full-bodied wine will benefit from several years of bottle age and should drink well for 12-15 years thereafter.

Sweet spices, flowers, raspberries, mint and red berries meld together in the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate from Wallis. A beautifully balanced, harmonious wine, the 2012 stands out for its mid-palate pliancy and fabulous depth. Today the 2012 is incredibly primary and intense, but all the elements are in the right place for this to develop into a gorgeous wine. Overall, this is a fairly approachable style for Diamond Mountain. In 2012, Wallis did not make their Little Sister Cabernet, all the fruit went into the flagship Estate.

Deep, powerful and explosive, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from Wallis Family Estate saturates the palate with huge fruit and equally imposing mountain tannins. Cedar, tobacco and a host of savory notes develop in the glass, but it is the wine’s sumptuous texture and broad resonant personality that stands out. Over time, the flavors acquire an element of brightness that balances some of the more overt leanings. This is a fabulous showing from Wallis.

A 100% Cabernet Sauvignon given two years in French oak, this sanguine, expertly structured and elegant wine offers plenty of bright cassis and blackberry flavor on the palate, seducing with complex layers of dried herb and black tea. Enjoyable now, this wine will also benefit from time; hold through 2022.

Diamond Mountain, situated at the warmer northern tip of the Napa Valley, is Cabernet Sauvignon country. This expression of the Diamond Mountain Cab terroir from Wallis Family shows earthy minerality, good balance, and the sort of firm structure necessary for longevity. It is rich and darkly fruited and built for the long haul. Platinum award winner at the 2015 San Diego International Wine Competition.

The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate bursts from the glass with loads of blue and black fruits, grilled savory herbs licorice, ash, smoke and new leather. Today the tannins are imposing to the point of making the wine hard to read. The 2010 was also massively tannic when I tasted it from barrel last year, but the tannins were better balanced. This is another wine that is going to require patience. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2026. These two 2010 Cabernet Sauvignons from Wallis were both massively shut down and virtually impossible to evaluate. I am not sure if that is simply the personality of the vintage asserting itself, or if the wines have closed down in bottle, but either way the 2010s are impenetrable at this stage and are likely to stay that way for at least a few years.

The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate bursts from the glass with loads of blue and black fruits, grilled savory herbs licorice, ash, smoke and new leather. Today the tannins are imposing to the point of making the wine hard to read. The 2010 was also massively tannic when I tasted it from barrel last year, but the tannins were better balanced. This is another wine that is going to require patience.

Tough and hard, this is a Cabernet that tastes old fashioned with its dry, tannic astringency. It certainly marches to a different beat, even for the Diamond Mountain District that’s known for difficult tannins. Will it age? There’s a solid core of black currant and green olive flavor that suggests it will. Hold until 2018, at least.

The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon screams Diamond Mountain in its dark fruit, tar, spices, smoke and incense. Elements of exotic wildness are woven throughout this powerful, intense, tannic wine. A radiant finish supported by firm tannins leaves a lasting impression. The 2010 is likely to require a few years in bottle, but there is little doubt this is an exciting wine in the making.

Good ruby-red. Liqueur-like, even exotic, on the nose, but not yet differentiated. Large-scaled, broad and primary, with darker fruit flavors than the 2008 version. This distinctly unformed wine is all baby fat today. A powerful and head-spinning cabernet with chewy, almost granular tannins. Impressive material here, but will this achieve the balance of the 2008?

The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon is layered with dark red fruit, flowers, mint and licorice. This is a decidedly powerful style endowed with gorgeous focus and textural elegance, but the overall impression is one of relative suppleness for the appellation.

The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon flows with black cherries, plums, spices, tar and licorice. It possesses striking inner perfume and beautifully expressive fruit in a style that brings tons of elegance to Diamond Mountain. Layers of flavor build towards the impressive, textured finish. This is another terrific showing from Wallis Family Estate. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2024. Although Edward and Marilyn Wallis purchased their estate on Diamond Mountain in 1975, the first vines were only planted in 2000. Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown gives the Cabernet Sauvignon roughly 10 months in French oak barrels, 85% new.

A great follow-up to the winery’s 2008, this continues a roll of classy Diamond Mountain-based Cabs from Wallis Family. It’s dry, softly tannic and likeable for its depth of blackberry, cherry, currant and cedar flavors. This straddles the line between immediate drinkability and ageability.

The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain reveals a similar, slightly deeper ruby/purple color along with abundant notes of creme de cassis, graphite, crushed rocks and spice. Full-bodied and rich, this outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon is drinking well now yet should age nicely for 12-13 years. A new discovery for me, these two reds are both impressive efforts made in an elegant, fresh, lively style with plenty of depth and richness.

Good deep red. Slightly high-toned aromas of cherry liqueur, licorice, tar and loam, along with a cooler minty nuance. Then supple and fresh in the mouth, with floral red fruit flavors enlivened by integrated acidity. The dusty tannins are nicely ripe for Diamond Mountain cabernet. Well-balanced and persistent.

Rich, elaborate and layered. If this Cab were a fabric, it would be suede. Shows the tannins and minerals of Diamond Mountain, with potent flavors of blackberries, cherries, currants, cola, anise and sweet smoky oak. The finish is wonderfully dry, firm and long. Should develop for at least eight years.

A superior Cabernet that shows, first and foremost, Diamond Mountain’s famous tannins. They make the mouthfeel a little hard, but the wine is so rich in blackberries and plums, you hardly notice. Beautiful now, with decanting, and should develop for six years.