2005 Andrew Geoffrey Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon

So what makes this wine so special? For one, the vineyard. It’s at the very top of Diamond Mountain, at 2000 feet, and boasts the volcanic soil that produces the very best Napa Cabernets.

Compare this to the famed Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill at 600 feet.

No wonder top Napa wineries like Lokoya and Cardinale compete for this very special Cabernet fruit. And the winemaking, under former Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars winemaker John Gibson, is as good as it gets.

The winery currently features this 2005 as their top older vintage, saying:

The 2005 growing season in the Napa Valley was spectacular. With adequate rainfall from the winter months, budbreak took place in late March and early April. A warm summer with temperatures hovering in the high 80's followed. The vines developed a large crop and significant crop thinning was required just after verasion to maintain fruit concentration and intensity of flavors. In September, the weather cooled slightly, thus extending the growing season into October, with the additional time for the fruit to hang allowing flavors to develop to their fullest. Picking began in 2005 with the Cabernet Sauvignon on October 5th and finished on October 17th. Cabernet Franc was harvested on October 15th and Petit Verdot on October 25th. The extended hang time insured that the fruit was as ripe as possible with mature tannins.