The winery changed hands more than several times since then and I would hate to guess how many winemakers they have been through. During that process I drifted away from them but a year ago I found a sale on their 2006 Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon and brought home a bottle.
It has been perfect grilling weather here so I smothered a beef tri-tip roast in some mild chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper and porcini mushroom powder. It got seared over direct heat on both sides and then moved to a cooler section of the grill to finish cooking.
Mountain grapes from Napa are not shy and there was nothing shy about this wine. Full throttled and concentrated flavors of dark red cherries, cassis and plums could stand up to any grilled meet. The wine had a wonderful nose of with vanilla, cinnamon, and plums. The more I swirled the glass the more bouquet it produced. There was a ton of tannin up front, but that smoothed out in the mid-palate and then wrapped itself around the tongue for a good, dry finish. Quite a mouthful of wine and through the course of the evening it seemed to get better. My neighbor is not a fan of "big" red wines and after a sip he put the glass aside. An hour later he took another sip and fell in love with this wine. Between the two of us the rest of the bottle disappeared over the next hour.
Good stuff and a nice reunion with Sterling Vineyards.
2006 Sterling vineyards Diamond Mountain Cabernet, Napa Valley. 14.5% alcohol and $40 sale price.
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