2013 "Star" Cabernet Sauvignon, Star Lane

Four decades ago, the Dierberg family quest of producing world-class wine began in their home state of Missouri. Two decades later, the family settled in their second home, Santa Barbara County, where the Star Lane, Dierberg, and Drum Canyon vineyards were born. Each vineyard is tethered to a 250-year pursuit of making wine where value is derived from the unique qualities discovered from each site. CCL (250 years in Roman Numerals) wines personify the dedication, passion, and pursuit embarked upon four decades ago.

WINEMAKER NOTES: This is a special block of Cabernet, known as the “home block”, on our steepest slope that wraps around knoll offering slopes facing north, east and south. While normally we might pick all those slopes separately, we elect to accept the diversity in aspect as a part of the fruit complexity with rugged edges. As a result we felt extra aging would provide more time for the structure of the wine to come together prior to bottling in which ruggedness turn to suppleness.

99% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Merlot

TASTING NOTES: Classic Cabernet Sauvignon characters of cassis, cherries, and hints of blackberries are just meager attempts to articulate the complex and pleasing qualities that emerge. Nuanced with fresh herbs, the wine somehow manages an impressive subtlety even if suggesting power. Restrained power defines the texture. The wine is supple, fresh, and very long. Time ought to reveal even more