Description
Our 2022 vintage is ready for tasting
Blend: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Petit Verdot
Decanter Review: 94
Tasted by: Jonathan Cristaldi
(at Novato, California, 25 May 2026)
Drinking Window: 2026 – 2036
This medium to full-bodied, dark-fruited Cabernet comes from a tiny vineyard on Diamond Mountain owned by the Mueller Family, who have farmed this estate at an elevation of 1,100 feet for
decades. They produce fewer than 150 cases each year. In 2022, the wine is really well-built, with a freshness factor that belies the warmer growing conditions of the year, even showing a slight
minty-wild herb freshness and rich chocolatey tannins, characteristic of the site. The fruit is dark, ample, like muddled blackberries and cherries, and is dusted with almost cinnamon-like spices.
Long, juicy, and so easy to drink. A great wine from a challenging year.
Winemaking: After gentle hand-harvesting and destemming, the must was cold-soaked
for 48 hours prior to a 14-day maceration. The final blend was aged for 18 months in
100% French oak cooperage, two-thirds of which was new.
Growing Season: Good winter rainfall that extended into a dry early spring led to a
solid start on the 2022 growing season. An extended period of consistent summer
warmth was broken by a prolonged Labor Day heat event. Cool nights and mornings at
our mountaintop site allowed the fruit to achieve full maturity, while retaining ample
freshness and balance.
Tasting Notes: Visually enticing, with its deeply opaque garnet color, the 2022 Mueller
Family Cabernet Sauvignon leads with warm aromas of ripe cassis, vanilla, forest floor
and cedar. A touch of sweet oak on the entry leads to a dense, velvety structure we
know to expect from this site. Notes of mocha, sweet cherry, and baking spices carry
throughout the lingering finish. The vineyard’s trademark flinty, seamless structure is
evident throughout the long finish. Look for optimum enjoyment from this wine through
2037.
Harvest: September 9
