2017 Vintage

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.

A dense and layered young red with velvety, chewy tannins and lots of terracotta and blackberry character. Full and juicy. Needs time to soften. Very well done for the vintage. Better after 2021.

This is a very big and extracted wine with loads of tannins and wood. Chewy. Slightly austere. A little disjointed. Wait and see.

The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Denali is a challenging wine. Huge, coarse tannins and strong savory flavors suggest ripening in the field was not ideal.

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.

The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon is a powerhouse. Blackberry jam, chocolate, dark spice, licorice and menthol power through this brooding, reticent Cabernet. Some of that initial intensity tapers on the mid palate and into the finish, where the tannins are pretty unyielding today.

A wine built to age. Complex and intense, a wine that should lay down for a few years to fully come to fruition. This wine showcases notes of ripe blueberries and cinnamon cake.

The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Seraphim offers a bit more complete sense of balance than the straight Cabernet bottling. Here the flavors lean more into the red/purplish end of the spectrum. Red cherry jam, pomegranate, cinnamon, cedar and mocha linger on the intense, tannic finish. I would prefer to drink the 2017 sooner rather than later.

Rich and robust. A wine built to age. Notes of rich ripe berries and ripe green peppers. This wine should be decanted and should be laid down until at least 2025.

The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain District is also closed for business yet has good concentration, building tannins, and solid length. The tannins here veer toward the more dry and chewy compared to the other release, so this is certainly a more questionable effort. If you have bottles, give them 2-3 years and it will be easier to see how this will develop.