„…komplexe Nase, etwas Kräutertöne, sehr schöne Frucht, Mitte schlank und fein, sehr kräftige Tannine, Schoko, Mokka, Kaffee, feine Süße, dezente Bitterschoko, lang, sehr gute Balance“ (08/2024)
Decanter: 98 Punkte
The Lokoya Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is primarily sourced from two sites: the 6.4ha Wallis Vineyard and Rhyolite Ridge (7.2ha), which are primarily volcanic soils. Winemaker Chris Carpenter says that Diamond Mountain is in the warmest part of Napa Valley's mountain terroirs. The tannins are softer, the pH is a little higher, and the acids are a little more savoury. With the 2021 vintage, Carpenter is right about the tannins being a bit softer, and they are very long. The wine is surprisingly medium-to-full-bodied, with very beautiful aromatics of sandalwood and sage, cherry blossoms and blood orange, and those soft tannins are superfine. Grippy acidity is very savoury, scented with a spicy herbaceousness that carries through a long and extended finish. The wine is so fresh and framed by an expressive vein of crushed stone and red volcanic minerality. Chris Carpenter makes the Lokoya wines, and the label is owned by the Jackson Family. There are four 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines in the portfolio, each from a different mountain: Diamond Mountain, Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain, and Mt. Veeder. The winemaking is the same for all the wines, with mostly native yeast fermentation, pump-overs by hand, malolactic fermentation in barrel and ageing for 22 months in 90% new French oak. What separates these wines is not style but place. Carpenter believes that fine Napa Valley Cabernet wines are not only defined by the soils of their sites but also by the Bay Area Pacific breezes that roll in and out daily, cooling the valley from the south to the north in the evenings and from the north to the south in the mornings. These mountains define cooling as any place in the valley and the diurnal temperature shifts at higher elevations create an equilibrium where climatic fluctuations aren't as pronounced as fruit grown below the fog lines.
- Jonathan Cristaldi (07/2024)
