BUY MORE! SAVE MORE! | ||||||||||||||||
|
Country: | United States |
Region: | California |
Winery: | Chateau Diana Winery |
Grape Type: | Zinfandel |
Vintage: | NV |
Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
The Black Oak White Zinfandel is a wonderful warm weather sipper. This is sometimes called our ‘hammock wine’ for lazy days by the river.
Lovely perfume aromas that remind one of ripe melons, honeysuckle in summer, and cherry blossoms in spring. The flavors are bright and delicately sweet, with a very good balance of fresh acidity that lightens up the complex texture. The succulent flavors are of juicy tangerine, white peaches and just picked strawberries. All this with an additional hint of lemon-lime and sass that make this a very approachable and fun wine selection.
The Chateau Diana Winery, located in Sonoma County, CA, was founded 30 years ago when Tom and Diane Manning moved from New York to California to pursue their dream of providing high quality California wines for the East coast. Over the course of 30 years, the Chateau Diana Winery has developed a specialty in producing low alcohol wines. Today, the winery is owned by siblings Corey and Dawn (Manning) where they follow the traditions and values their parents adopted when they first began operations.
Date Founded: 1981
The winery was named after Diane Manning, the mother of brother and sister Dawn and Corey. Tom and Diane Manning started the winery in 1981 on land bought from the former Le Baron Ranch.
Chateau Diana Winery was founded in 1981, but its beginnings were crafted along a career path that would take Tom Manning, and later, his young family on a coast-to-coast journey.
Tom was orphaned as a child and raised by his aunt. Though he never finished high school, he was a hard worker from the age of 14. Sales seemed to come natural to Tom and he moved through the sales ranks of various companies. Eventually, he found a natural fit within the wine industry.
With his young wife Diane and his expanding family, Tom lived in various states, eventually settling in beautiful Northern California. Residing first in San Francisco, Tom was lucky to be involved in the early days of a rapidly growing wine retailing group, Trader Joe’s. The owner personally selected Tom to develop Negociant Wine Brands.
With the rapid sales and success that Tom enjoyed, he seized the opportunity to open his own winery facility in 1981. Affectionately named after his wife, Chateau Diana was born in Healdsburg, Ca. Craig, their eldest son, joined Tom and Diane in this exciting venture. Over the next two years, the Mannings developed new wines within the Chateau Diana brand while also looking for a more permanent home for their winery.
In 1983, a dream was realized with the purchase of the LeBaron Ranch encompassing 60 acres in the Dry Creek Valley. 30 years later, the Manning family honors the LeBaron’s legacy of maintaining a family-owned winery. The business continued to grow with a sales office in Southern California, whom their daughter Dawn runs herself. In 1991, another son Corey joined his sister in the family business.
The period between 1999 and 2001 held many changes for Chateau Diana and the Manning family, saddest of which was the unexpected loss of winemaker, Craig Manning. The continued growth of the business within this family struggle, including necessary expansions to the winery facility, was shouldered by Dawn, Corey, and Craig’s Wife, Donna. Their dedication and commitment to hard work is a deep family conviction and is key to the accomplishments at Chateau Diana. When walking the grounds of Chateau Diana you can feel the love and care Craig Manning put into the winery before his passing. He is gone but never forgotten.
Black Oak Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
The Black Oak Pinot Noir is a glowing example of what they do best in Puglia, make great wine. Deep ruby in color with a lovely bouquet of sweet spices, even a dusting of cinnamon and nutmeg. The flavors are flowing with ripe black cherry. This medium-bodied wine with its fresh acidity will complement many meal selections.
Zombie Zin Zinfandel is made from 95% Zinfandel and 5% Syrah
Be careful if you go out at night. The Zombie Zin is designed to be consumed in hiding with the only friends you have left... post apocalypse.
The Zombie Zin is sporting a new label design with a torn look, that suggests a window into another world. The colors are more vibrant earth-tones and the capsule is a deep red.
The Zombie Zinfandel is very dark in color, almost a black-purple. The aromas are of ripe, dense black fruits and a hint of dried herbs. The flavors are complex and rich, sporting succulent blackberries, powdered cinnamon, cola and cherry jam. Just a hint of black pepper in the long finish.
The grapes for the Zombie are sourced throughout California, mostly from the dry, hot sandy soils of the Delta region and the Central Valley. The final blend benefitted from some inky Syrah grapes that came from the Central Coast. The wine was fermented in Stainless Steel and aged for about a half a year in American oak.
Pairs well with bloody BBQ meats, sinister soups with eye of newt, bubbly caldron of fleshy stew.
Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 95.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2.5% Cabernet Franc, 1.9% Merlot, 0.4% Petit Verdot
The Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 has notes of red cherry, raspberry, blackberry, iris, vanilla and clove. Ruby in color, this elegant wine has great acidity and lift on the mid-palate. Black currant and warm baking spices linger with a deep and fruity finish. It will provide drinking pleasure through 2047 given proper cellaring.
Review:
Silver Oak's 2020 releases of Napa and Alexander Valley Cabernets are downright impressive. Tasted four years after the fires, in September of 2024 at the Alexander Valley winery, neither wine showed any sign of the hardened tannic structure or overwrought fruit often associated with the vintage. Instead, these wines remain true to Silver Oak’s signature style, with blackcurrant, fig, and plum fruits layered with white pepper, sweet cedar, and coriander spice. Medium-bodied, with sculpted tannins that persist through the lengthy finish, the Alexander Valley Cabernet in particular retains all the hallmarks of a balanced, inviting, and vibrant Silver Oak red.
-Decanter 94 Points
Truly gorgeous, fruity, velvety and enjoyable for a full-bodied cabernet. It is rich in blueberries, cherry cream, black cherries and raspberries on the palate, with very smooth, layered tannins and a soothing mouthfeel. So easy to drink now, but it will age well, too.
-James Suckling 94 Points
Boeira Tawny 20 Year Port is made from 40% Touriga Nacional, 30% Touriga Francesa and 30% Tinta Roriz.
A Good Complexity of Natural Flavors of Cassis, Blackberries and Caramel.
Fermentation in steel tank and stopped by adding spirit and aged in oak barrels for 20 years. Wine was slightly filtered before bottling.
Review:
The NV 20 Year Port is based on Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, and Tinto Cão and was aged 20 years in French oak casks. It's more complex and nuanced, with beautiful white raisin, white chocolate, ripe cherries, caramelized fig, and smoky tobacco nuances. Beautifully balanced and medium to full-bodied, it has a layered mouthfeel, a ripe tannic structure, and one heck of a great finish.
-Jeb Dunnuck 94 Points
Boeira White Diamond Port is made from Malvasia Fin, Viosinho, Gouveio, and Côdega de Larinho.
Clear amber color, on the nose aromas of citrus, tangerine peel, peaches and honey. In the mouth it is full but elegant, well integrated and persistent finish
Boeira White Diamond Port is the perfect companion for a number of foods including appetizers, lean fish, salads, pasta or desert like apple pie or crème brulée.
Review:
The NV White Diamond Port is the estate's 10-year Tawny based on Málvasia Fina, Viosinho, Gouveio, and Côdega de Larinho. Caramelized orange, toffee, fig, and spicy white chocolate notes all shine on the nose, and this beauty hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness and a round layered, incredibly seamless mouthfeel. It's all about its seamless, decadent, sweetly fruited, yet balanced style.
-Jeb Dunnuck 94 Points
This new California white wine blend is infused with Butterfly Pea Flower, giving it its bold color.
6% alcohol!
Bright acidity cuts through a light sweetness reminiscent of a mixed berry pie. Subtle notes of juicy boysenberry and blackberry balance with an acidity that leaves you wanting to take another sip.
The first California white wine infused with Butterfly Pea Flower!
Holocene Memorialis Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
Holocene Pinot Noir Memorialis is a blend of 777, Pommard and 115 clones from MonksGate vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, and it saw about 20% new French oak for 16 months prior to bottling. It is always the lighter and more feminine of the two Holocene wines, with red fruits, white flowers, dried herbs, mushroom and forest floor aromatics, bright acidity and a lithe texture, long finish.
By now, everyone knows that the Willamette Valley is an amazing place to grow Pinot Noir. When I relocated from Napa Valley to partner up with Force Majeure Vineyards, I knew I also wanted to start a project where I could focus attention on a varietal and growing region that I loved. Part of the excitement of being in the Pacific Northwest is the ability to have access to so many amazing vineyards and so much diversity, along with the opportunity to push boundaries and try new things – something that is becoming increasingly difficult in other growing regions.
We partner up with a few very small, diverse and amazing vineyards in the Willamette Valley, sourcing fruit from these dry-farmed sites that emphasize low yields, sustainable practices and produce outstanding fruit.
The wines are crafted in the same way I have been making wine since I was carrying it out at Bryant Family Vineyard in the Napa Valley — utilizing very low-impact, non-industrial techniques, native yeasts, little extraction and little new oak, and never filtering or fining. This allows a real sense of place to show through in the wines that is often dimmed when too much manipulation is undertaken.
Our first vintage was 2015, and was released in early 2017. As production is currently extremely small, the best way to get the wines into your hands is to join our mailing list at the “Mailing List” link above to receive an allocation when we have a release. We release wines once per year, and they will be sold on a first come, first served basis, shipped straight to your door.
Review:
The 2021 Pinot Noir Memorialis is more complete and layered, with beautiful ripe cherry and redcurrant fruit as well as spice box, dried, smoky herbs, and savory flower-like aromas and flavors. Textured, medium to full-bodied, and balanced, it has the fruit and texture to shine even today yet the density and structure to evolve for 10-12 years as well.
- Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
For many wine lovers or consumers, wine tasting is the preserve of professionals or real connoisseurs. People still have this image of it being a complex, technical, precise and highly-formalised process. In fact, wine tasting isn’t and shouldn’t be just that. No, it should be straightforward, convivial, interesting and fun. Tasting a wine should provoke curiosity, excitement, pleasure and dreams…
When you taste a Château du Retout wine, you use all five of your senses: the sense of touch when you pick up the bottle to gauge its temperature, the sense of hearing which allows you to enjoy the sound of he popping of the cork and the wine being poured into the glass, and then, of course, you use your senses of sight, smell and taste when you drink the wine:
The Médoc grape varieties and soils give us wines with superb, dense, dark hues, ranging from deep garnet to ruby-crimson, taking on brick red shades with orange tints with age.
Very intense and expressive aromas with powerful notes of black fruit such as blackcurrants and blackberries. In older wines, the nose develops a spicy bouquet of liquorice, leather and marshmallow mingled with the vanilla scents created by well-integrated oak.
Harmonious, elegant and velvety, with smooth, round tannins, that can be appreciated from the wine's entry to the palate through to the finish. These are delightfully full-bodied wines with great aromatic persistence.
Review:
"Shows the ripeness of the vintage, with dark currant and blackberry framed by singed cedar and vanilla. Ends with a tug of warm earth, a light twang of iron and a steady grip. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2034."
- Wine Spectator (TOP 100 wines of 2024), 92 pts and #45 on Top100