VIDEO: CONSTANT VINEYARDS DIAMOND MOUNTAIN, NAPA

Join us for an insiders-only visit to Constant Diamond Mountain Vineyards - perhaps the most scenic and exclusive winery in all of Napa Valley.

Click below to purchase any of the wines featured in this podcast:
Constant Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 ($79)
Constant Claret 2002 ($69)
Constant Syrah 2004 ($69)

The Other Silver

It’s starting to heat up here in California, which may have made this wine even more appealing to me, but nonetheless the Mer Soleil Silver Unoaked Chardonnay 2006 blew me away. Coming from Caymus’ Santa Lucia Highlands vineyard, it just highlights again how on their game the Wagners are. I tend to prefer aromatics over oak, and fruit over butter, and this wine offers up boatloads of both. Despite it being all stainless fermentation it still had tremendous body and richness rarely found in unoaked whites. The Aussies have been making and drinking tons of unoaked Chards for years now, but for some reason, the American palate has been slow to catch on, which I find a huge shame considering how food friendly this wine is while at the same time being the perfect summer cocktail wine. Topping off its fresh profile is a screw cap closure (also ever-present in Aussieland) that maintains its dazzling crispness and vibrancy. It’s not cheap at around $45 a bottle, but its exotic spice, pear, apple, orange peel, crisp minerality and long finish more than deliver on value. E SMITH
WI Taste: 93 Points
WI Value: 90 Points

MEYER, MEYER ON THE WALL, WHO'S THE MERUS OF THEM ALL?

I got a sneak peak taste yesterday of the new 2004 Meyer Vineyard Cabernet, from Hestan Vineyards. Though the winery is relatively new (10 years old) by Napa standards, the owners spared no expense and brought in Mark Herold of Merus fame as winemaker. This explains why as soon as I tasted this wine I immediately thought “cult wine” profile. While I’ll be the last to praise a wine because of its cult status or profile made to impress critics rather than on its own merits, sometimes a wine just really is undeniably delicious, regardless of its “cult handicap.” So the good news here is this Meyer Cab has not reached cult status yet, costs $100 less than Herold’s other wines (particularly his 96 point Merus,) AND will send anyone to their happiest place for the duration of the bottle. I loved it’s plushy texture, dusty satiny tannins, cocoa powder, espresso, dark berries, tobacco, and cedar on the palate, and finally its seemingly interminable finish.
WI Taste: 94 points
WI Value: 92 points