ABOUT REVERIE WINERY & VINEYARD

on Diamond Mountain in the Napa Valley, California

REVERIE WINERY, previously selected as one of the "Upcoming Stars-Wineries To Watch" by Winetoday.com, the NY Times wine website, and by The Wine Spectator as one of the top dozen new Cabernet producers, is one of Napa Valley's smallest wineries. Reverie Vineyard is located in a unique valley on Diamond Mountain in Napa Valley, once known as the Bonsell Property that is now divided into Diamond Creek Winery, Von Strasser Winery and Reverie. Reverie Vineyard is an incredibly steep, south facing 40 acre mountainside property composed of rocky and infertile volcanic soil. (Poor soil is a hallmark of virtually all the great vineyards in the world.) The winery is located in a re-creation of a 125 year old barn located on the property. All Reverie and ASKiken wines are Estate Grown, Produced and Bottled and bear the Diamond Mountain - Napa Valley Appellation.

Reverie Winery specializes in producing ultra premium Bordeaux varietal blends that reflect the uniqueness of its terroir. The vineyard was principally planted in 1989 on St. George rootstock to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc and currently consists of Cabernet Sauvignon (2 clones on 14 acres); Cabernet Franc (6 acres); Merlot (2 clones on 6 acres) and small amounts of Petit Verdot, Malbec, Barbera, Tempranillo, Grenache and Roussanne. Production will be limited and will not exceed 2,500 cases. Reverie also produces the ASKiken wines.

Our wine consultant from the beginning - Ted Lemon

Ted Lemon began his career by studying Enology at the Universite de Bourgogne. He apprenticed at several famous estates in Burgundy: Domaines Dujac, De Villaine, Roumier, Parent and Bruno Clair. He was the first American ever hired as a winemaker and vineyard manager of a Burgundian estate, Domaine Guy Roulot in Meursault. Littorai website.

Diamond Mountain History

Like Robert Mondavi has promoted the Napa Valley, our neighbor, Al Braunstein, of Diamond Creek has helped make Diamond Mountain wines become known as one of the top appellations to produce wine in the world!

While Reverie Winery wants to promote itself , we do have to go through the
timeline. In the past, we sold our grapes to Lokoya, and we are proud of the
incredible success they had with our fruit. According to Robert Parker, Jr.’s
reviews in 1998, Lokoya had THE Wine of the Vintage with our grapes.
The winemaker at the time for Lokoya was our good friend Marco DiGiulio who, coincidentally, is also the winemaker for our Daydream wines of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. We stopped selling grapes to Lokoya in 2002 and have a new purchaser of our grapes. To purchase Marco's wines you can go to www.MarcoWine.com.

Here is what Marco had to say about his affilation with our grapes:

“Norm Kiken grows Cabernet Sauvignon for me on Diamond Mountain in his Mark K Vineyard. I began working with his vineyards as the winemaker for Lokoya. He has become justifiably renowned for his Reverie wines and has been gracious enough to let me have a few tons of his Cabernet Sauvignon. The rows from which I source my grapes run East-West at a little over 1000 ft. above sea level on a steep south-facing slope. The soil consists of a well-drained volcanic loam and the vines are trained on a vertical trellis.”

About the Diamond Mountain AVA - From Matt Kramer's new book, "New California Wine: Making Sense of Napa Valley, Sonoma, Central Coast and Beyond"

“What makes Diamond Mountain interesting is that on a map, it appears to be simply a continuation of Spring Mountain AVA. They are contiguous, separated by only the valley through which Ritchie Creek runs. Yet, the cabernets from Diamond Mountain are strikingly different from those of Spring Mountain. Really, you can tell them apart in a blind tasting without much difficulty if you get good examples of each. Their giveaway is a signature scent and taste of dark chocolate. As elsewhere, along the Mayacamas range, it's really red wines, above all Cabernet Sauvignon that define the area. But Diamond Mountain alone among the 3 AVA's delivers it's Cabernet with a striking whiff and taste of dark chocolate . Neither Spring Mountain nor Mount Veeder have this.”

“Wine grapes, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, are the true diamonds of this remarkable AVA. Covering 5,000 rocky acres in the Mayacamas Range on the northeast side of Napa Valley, this region has just over 500 acres under vine. Due to the up-valley location and the high elevation of vineyards, the fog that influences the valley floor is not a factor here. Unique, porous volcanic soils and extended exposure to the sun are the reasons that world-class wines are made here. The Cabernets are described as rich and powerful with chewy textures and diamond-hard tannins.”

“What's more and rather baffling is when you compare the cabernet of those three zones, those from Diamond Mountain always have the softest tannins. Mountain Veeder cabs have hard, almost green tannins (the coolness makes itself felt). Spring Mountain cabs have hard intense tannins, but wrapped in intense fruit. ”

“Diamond Mountain cabs are far from wishy washy — they are big wines, but the compounding of softer tannins with that chocolate note makes them less pungent than Spring Mountain and riper tasting than Mount Veeder's.”

“Regrettably, not much white wine is grown on Diamond Mountain today — although Sterling Vineyard once issued a series of Diamond Mountain grown chardonnays that were among Napa Valley’s most characterful in an earthy long aging way. However, a tiny planting at Reverie Winery was extraordinary enough to make one a believer in it's possibilities on Diamond Mountain.”