Wine & Spirits - Fall 2018 - 53

She told me how, when it came time to plant his vineyards, Brounstein smuggled budwood from three of
the five Bordeaux first growths into the country by
way of Rosarita Beach, Mexico. When I ask her which
first-growth plant material landed in the Diamond
Mountain soil, all I get in answer is a coy smile and
gentle admonishment that she has promised to take
that secret to her grave.
Consistency is a driving force for Diamond Creek.
Canchola, now in his seventies, still works on the
property, and Phil Steinschriber has been making the
wines since the early 1990s. It's not that there haven't
been changes to the style of winemaking throughout
the years-Steinschriber has taken the fundamental
brilliance of Al's rustic, artisanal approach and polished it into a richer and more modern version of the
Diamond Creek wines. Nonetheless, these wines still
speak clearly of the soils from which they come: Diamond Mountain fruit has a lot to say when crafted
by thoughtful hands.
Standing on the porch at Diamond Creek you get a clear
view of what used to be the Von Strasser Estate Vineyard.
Adjacent to Volcanic Hill heading east, composed of
the same white volcanic soil, this south-facing slope
currently looks starkly naked as its new owners prepare it for replanting. Rudy von Strasser is now based
on the east side of Calistoga, where I drive to meet
him at his new winery and tasting room. He arrives
sporting the dirt-battered and sun-tanned armor of a
vigneron, flanked by his two-year-old chocolate lab,
Huckleberry.
Von Strasser doesn't particularly want to talk
about the 2015 sale of his estate vineyard-he sold

it to a foreign investor who is building an uber-luxury
resort and winery; the 2016 vintage will be its last bottling. He shakes his head and explains that he isn't
the type to look backwards; after all, he has several
other vineyards that he will continue to use for his
cabernets (he owns one of them; the rest are under
long-term contracts).
In 1985, von Strasser worked the harvest at Château Lafite-Rothschild, an experience he credits with
showing him that Bordeaux varieties can be powerful
and long-lived without sacrificing elegance. In this
spirit-and having farmed a range of parcels on Diamond Mountain-von Strasser developed a preference for picking early (around 23 degrees Brix, when
possible), to preserve freshness in his wines and keep
alcohol levels manageable.
Von Strasser cites another Bordeaux influence in
his work with consulting winemaker Michel Rolland.
He recalls how Rolland taught him to look for ripeness of tannins, isolated from ripeness of the fruit
or elevated sugar levels. "Our palates have gotten
trained to like certain sugar levels," explains von
Strasser. "More sugar is always going to taste better,
so winemakers are missing out on making wines at
lower Brix."
Von Strasser was one of the earliest and strongest voices in creating the Diamond Mountain AVA,
and though he now makes wines from other regions
under a separate label, all of his von Strasser wines
grow within the Diamond Mountain AVA. It is the
shallow volcanic soils and the blue-fruited characteristics of the grapes here that keep him loyal to the
location.
Tasting through the 2015s brings this loyalty into

Robert Mondavi Winery's arch frames
the To Kalon Vineyard, on the western
benchlands of Oakville

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