Hmm, I’ve Never Had a Diamond Creek Cabernet, What Am I Missing (If Anything)?

WINE TALK
41

The most recent global average price we have for Diamond Creek Lake Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1978 is $2,488 USD (January 2018)

42

Purchased some 84 from them a few months ago and the bottles were in perfect shape

43

Ha, I’m out. I assumed prolly $1000 and had texted Carnes about us grabbing one. That’s some seriously expensive juice.

44

“Al died around the 1985 vintage”
Mr Brounstein died in 2006…

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45

Agreed. Napa Pioneer Al Brounstein Dies at 86

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46

Yeah, but Ovid. You’ve been to the top of the mountain, nothing but downhill from here neener

I’ve had quite a few, they are classic. My favorite is Lake, but it’s rare and expensive. You would like any of the wines.

47

And damn good thing it was. I was in a POS Tesla X that was out of juice, needed to coast down!

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48

you know when they say “it’s not the camera, it’s the photographer”?
I think the same applies here. [wink.gif] [whistle.gif] [rofl.gif]

49

Huh. I always look good in pics. :wink:

50

I thought he died, but obviously I was wrong. There was definitely a major change with the 1985 vintage.

51

Every vintage in the 70s - I liked the '76s and 77s as much as the '78s - and the 1980s were stunning. I have always felt these guys deserve the big price tags more than any other property in Napa Valley.

52

I didn’t think so because I met him at least a couple of times and I think one of them was in 2000. Wonder if he cut back around 1985 since when I met him his hand was shaking a good bit (did he have Parkinson’s).

53

I checked this, having gotten the date of his death wrong. According to the NYT.

“Mr. Brounstein had raised funds for Parkinson’s research since his case was diagnosed in 1983.“


Not sure I agree with this though

“Mr. Brounstein’s wines, at their best, are inky black and tremendously concentrated. The Australian critic James Halliday once wrote that they had “the subtlety and finesse of a Panzer tank brigade.”

But Mr. Brounstein said, “We don’t try to appeal to the everyday wine drinker.”“

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54

Interestingly, now this says he died in 2002. https://www.diamondcreekvineyards.com/history.html

55

I met him once in the early 1980s, on my first trip to Napa, when I was a consumer, and he was incredibly easygoing, and really generous with his time. Over lunch we talked terroir, and how he was pioneering mapping out the soils at his property . He was also incredibly proud that his Lake wines were as costly as Lafite.

56

Al’s wife Boots, “The life and history of Al and the creation of Diamond Creek!”

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57

A tasting of Diamond Creek in a Barristers’ chambers for clients?


Diamond Creek YEAR DESIGNATION QTY

Diamond Creek 84 Gravely Meadow, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 80 Gravely Meadow, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 78 Gravely Meadow, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 76 Gravely Meadow, Napa 1

Diamond Creek 78 Red Rock Terrace, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 77 Red Rock Terrace, 1st Pick Napa 1
Diamond Creek 77 Red Rock Terrace, 2nd Pick Napa 1
Diamond Creek 76 Red Rock Terrace, Napa 1

Diamond Creek 80 Volcanic Hill, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 78 Volcanic Hill, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 76 Volcanic Hill, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 74 Volcanic Hill, Napa 1

<><><>&<><><>

Diamond Creek YEAR DESIGNATION QTY

Diamond Creek 84 Gravely Meadow, Napa 1

Diamond Creek 80 Gravely Meadow, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 80 Volcanic Hill, Napa 1

Diamond Creek 78 Volcanic Hill, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 78 Gravely Meadow, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 78 Red Rock Terrace, Napa 1

Diamond Creek 77 Red Rock Terrace, 1st Pick Napa 1
Diamond Creek 77 Red Rock Terrace, 2nd Pick Napa 1

Diamond Creek 76 Gravely Meadow, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 76 Red Rock Terrace, Napa 1
Diamond Creek 76 Volcanic Hill, Napa 1

Diamond Creek 74 Volcanic Hill, Napa 1

Will post on C/C!

58

flirtysmile

59

So Parker says they became less extracted (worse) and the consensus agrees with him? Is this possible?

60

Certainly not less extracted, nor do I agree with Halliday and his Panzer comment. The hallmark of those 1984 and earlier bottling was character, complexity and energy. Post 1984 and well into the 1990s when I stopped tasting them, they had become, well, blah.

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