Generally speaking, our Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon preferences skew toward what we’d call the ‘heritage’ producers—those who’ve been around long enough to remember what the iconic Napa Cabernets of the ‘70s and ‘80s tasted like, and who continue to channel those wines in their current-day production.
Rudy Von Strasser, who’s been a standard-bearer of mountain-grown Napa Cabernet for close to 30 years, has surely earned inclusion in this group; he was instrumental in creating the Diamond Mountain AVA, both through his winemaking and his advocacy, and his wines are tried-and-true classics. This wine is Von Strasser’s flagship estate bottling from the 2013 vintage, and you really have to take your hat off to a guy who can deliver this level of quality and true terroir expression for $45. This is a winery with a long track record of critical acclaim which, given the inflationary nature of fine wine (and Napa fine wine especially), could likely charge more for this wine. And frankly, they’d deserve it: This is muscular, balanced, classically structured Cabernet Sauvignon that out-performs innumerable competitors priced two and three times higher. When I add Napa wines to my cellar, I add wines like this, because I’m looking to drink them, not re-sell them, in 10 years. This is an affordable luxury and a bona-fide Napa benchmark that should not be missed.
The Diamond Mountain district is one of the many sub-appellations “nested” within the greater Napa Valley, located at the northern end of the valley near Calistoga. Part of the Mayacamas Range on the western side of the valley, Diamond Mountain’s soils are mostly volcanic in origin, with vineyards situated at altitudes from 400 to 2,200 feet. Like most of Napa’s mountain appellations, Diamond Mountain sees cooler temperatures and a touch more rainfall than the AVAs on the Valley floor, which results in more rigidly structured wines.
Von Strasser originally intended to be a cider-maker after his graduation from the University of New Hampshire in 1980. Looking to learn fermentation and the other necessary skills to pursue this path, he headed out to California for job at Robert Mondavi Winery, and the cider thing soon went out the window. He caught the wine bug and enrolled at UC Davis to train in enology, then finagled an intership at Bordeaux’s Château Lafite-Rothschild through a family connection (he worked the 1985 harvest as their first American intern). Stints making wine at Napa’s Trefethen and Newton wineries followed, after which he and his wife, Rita, took the plunge and acquired the former Roddis Estate Winery on Diamond Mountain in 1989.
One of the key features of this wine is its mix of all the classical ‘Bordeaux’ varieties, which reflects, as in Bordeaux, how the Von Strasser estate vineyard is planted. Their oldest block on the property was planted in the 1970s using budwood from Napa’s famed “Martha’s Vineyard,” the second in 1983, and then, in ’91, the Von Strassers added Petit Verdot, Merlot, and Malbec. The 2013 vintage is comprised of 75% Cabernet, 19% Malbec, 5% Petit Verdot, and 1% Merlot, aged in French oak barrels (30% new).
That Petit Verdot percentage definitely adds an appealing dark tone to this richly fruited, firmly structured wine. In the glass it’s a near-opaque ruby-black with just the slightest hint of bricking at the rim. The nose is a booming blast of black currant, cassis, black cherry, mocha coffee, damp violet, cedar, tobacco, and tar. It has that palate-coating, voluptuous texture that distinguishes great Napa Cabernet, supported by sandy, silty tannins and bright acidity. Its overall scale is really perfect: a powerful wine, yes, but not a hyper-extracted monolith. With about 30-45 minutes in a decanter it is eminently enjoyable now, but its peak drinking window should start around its tenth birthday. Serve it in large Bordeaux stems and pair it with something that will highlight its mineral, ‘volcanic’ side. Check out the attached tutorial on how to get a perfect “steakhouse crust” on your steak and fire up the grill. Should be an epic combination. Cheers!
