Region: Mount Veeder

Grape: 60% Merlot / 23% Cabernet Sauvignon / 17% Cabernet Franc

Winemaker: Diana Snowden Seysses

ASHES & DIAMONDS’ Mountain Cuvée “Saffron Vineyard” comes from Lisa Chu’s organically farmed Mt. Veeder site, located high above the fog inversion line at an altitude of 1,500 feet, where daytime temperatures are often 15 degrees cooler than on the valley floor. the deep-rooted Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapevines were planted in 2000 in thin soils comprised of uplifted marine sediment and fractured shale. Soils with naturally low fertility and no irrigation make for naturally balanced grapevines with low yields and small berries. Once at the winery, the grapes are cold-soaked until native fermentation begins. The resulting wine is bouncy and outgoing, with explosive red fruit aromas like biting into a ripe, juicy plum, and fine, focused tannins.

Kashy Khaledi started Ashes and Diamonds with a singular view - to emulate the great wines made during Napa’s heyday in the 60’s and 70’s. Gathering some of the most interesting winemakers in the world today (Steve Matthiasson, Dan Petroski and Diana Snowden Seysses) and using the technologies available to those iconic wines, Kashy’s ode to the 60’s is an acclaimed success. These wines are stunning, complex and subtle – there is frankly nothing else in the world like the Ashes and Diamonds project.

“So often are you as a blazing torch with flames
of burning rags falling about you flaming,
you know not if flames bring freedom or death.

Consuming all that you must cherish
if ashes only will be left, and want Chaos and tempest.”

“Or will the ashes hold the glory of a star-like diamond, the
morning star of everlasting triumph.”