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Matt Kramer
Matt Kramer’s New California Wine, a revision of his 1992 classic Making Sense of California Wine has just been published. We like his revisionism! Here’s what he says about us: “Dyer Vineyard—This is the tiny, personal vineyard (and home) of two former...
2016 Star Harvest Reports- Diamond Mountain District
Diamond Mountain District 8/22/16 - It’s mostly quiet on Diamond Mountain where there’s near unanimous agreement that it will be mid September before we see any real action. Budbreak was early but a cooler May delayed bloom and put us pretty much back to “normal” by...
2015 Star Harvest Report-Diamond Mountain District
Diamond Mountain District 8/25/15 "Vineyards on Diamond Mountain can be divided into two camps- those that finished bloom before the cool weather in May and those that didn't finish bloom until early June. Those on the earlier track, north-facing slopes and young...
The big picture: wine style
I suppose every field has its controversies. Two that we hear about quite often in wine production are alcohol level and the hundred point scale. I will address them together as I believe they are closely linked. Over the last decade or so we have seen alcohol levels...
We’re Trying Something Different in our Vineyard
You can see that things are really taken off in the vineyard! The weather’s been lovely and the vines are showing their appreciation. As the shoots have lengthened, we’ve started tucking them into the trellis system - it's called “vertical shoot positioning.” The...
A Vertical Tasting of Dyer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
For quite a while, now, we’ve been meaning to review all the vintages of Dyer Vineyards Cabernet – we’re amazed to realize there are fifteen vintages now (seventeen if you count the two in barrels!) But, we just hadn’t gotten to it. In a recent moment of serendipity,...
The Story Behind the Missing Vintage
We recently sent out an e-mail to our mailing list customers informing them we will not be releasing a 2011 vintage from our vineyard, and instead are offering an older vintage (2005) from our library for the holidays. This is after 15 consecutive annual...
Strategy for an early season
We are off to an early start with the 2015 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon vintage—here on Diamond Mountain our vines budded out about 10 days ahead of normal. We did something a little different this year with our pruning, which you can see in this photo. Mid-winter...
Managing tannins is key
Managing tannins is key to making wine on Diamond Mountain- all those lovely aromas and flavors can be overwhelmed by hard mountain tannins if not managed properly. And like most things in winemaking, that management starts in the vineyard. We are already doing...
What makes a great vintage? Take 2013 as an example
Winemakers tend to be "optimystics", which is probably a good thing as each year nature hands us a new season with its own set of challenges. When we get through a vintage, sometimes it is difficult to rein in our enthusiasm for what we produced often leading to some...
Optimistic about 2016
We seem to have the drought behind us, at least for this season. Here are our vines in mid-May. They have been shoot thinned, leaving about 30 shoots per vine, which results in an open canopy of leaves without too much shading of the developing fruit. The remaining...
Dyer Vineyard Announces that verasion is now underway for Napa Valley Vineyards
Dyer Vineyard is pleased to announce that veraison is underway in the vineyard, signaling a busy harvest in late September for their Napa Valley winery. Napa Valley, CA - August, 2016 - Dyer Vineyard has announced the beginnings of veraison in their Napa Valley...