Had these two yesterday at lunch at Angele in Napa with Carlos Duarte.
2010 Diamond Creek “Volcanic Hill” Napa Valley
Starting around 2001 DC upped their ripeness at harvest a bit from the old 12.5% level. Starting in 2007 they upped it again to 14.5%. I can appreciate this style in the midway point. Red cherry and currants with a slight vegetative (but not green) edge in the nose. A bit tight, with great color density right to the rim. Masculine structure with a solid tannic core. A really nice food wine (went well with bone marrow on toast) and carries a nice “oily” texture. Quite solid now, I think this is five more years away from early maturity and it should easily go another decade.
92+pts
2007 Clos des Papes, CDP
Never disappoints. Very ripe (15.2% on the label and feels riper than that), it has no heat whatsoever and actually goes down the gullet with great ease. Spicy red fruit aromas. Sexy and flamboyant, I guess this could age several more years, but with fruit like this, why wait much longer? A very pleasurable wine.
95pts