Nose

Black cherry and plum aromas are laced thru with savory notes of tobacco and dried herbs.

Palate

On the palate this is classic Cabernet; dense and chewy, with notes of cedar. Tannins are firm.

Growing Conditions

Dyer Vineyard is a 2.3 acre vineyard situated on a bench, mid-slope on Diamond Mountain. The exposition is north facing and the slope is 7-10%. The site is probably an ancient land slide- rocky with fine volcanic soil and gravel ranging from ash to richer red soils. The vineyard was planted in 1993 by Bill and Dawnine Dyer.

A very dry year with total precipitation of 6 inches. April and May were warm and dry. Budbreak and bloom were relatively early and trouble free. The summer was mild with only one heat spike over 100. Perfect conditions in July, Aug, and Sept concluded with harvest on Sept 29.

Winemaking

We favor a restrained, balanced style of winemaking that cultivates the unique characteristics of our vineyard. To that end we have refined the varietal selection in our vineyard to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Diamond Mountain is famous for wines of great longevity, minerality, and huge tannins. All our efforts in both the vineyard and the winery are focused on optimizing the development of ripe tannins in the grapes and supple tannins in the wine. To this end we employ cold soak prior to fermentation, mixed yeast fermentations, and a combination of pump overs and punch-downs during fermentation. When possible, the 3 varieties are harvested on the same day and co-fermented. No press wine is used in the blend.

Aging

Dyer Cabernet is aged in French oak for a total of 20 months.