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.
The Black Oak Cabernet Sauvignon is garnet red in color, refreshing and inviting to the palate. The wine’s aromas are layered with rich plum notes and a warm cedar component. The ripe, dark cherry flavors, are reminiscent of decadent blackberries with a nice sprinkling of dried herbs. With a mellow tannin structure, this medium-bodied wine is delicious and well-integrated.
There are wonderful aromas of summer-ripe peaches with tropical fruits and flowers. The silky-smooth flavors are reminiscent of baked apples and toasty vanilla bean. The lively acidity makes this an extremely well-balanced Chardonnay. The finish is long and fruity, with an interesting hint of hazelnuts. This wine’s overall taste profiles is creamy with apricots and lemons.
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.
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.
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.
Continuum Red Blend 2021 is made from 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, 11% Merlot, 9% Petit Verdot.
A vintage set apart for its perseverance and resilience, the 2021 Continuum is one of refined concentration – a resounding expression of both measured intensity and enduring vibrancy. This is a multi-layered magnificent vintage that reveals floral notes, with black cherry and wild foraged mixed berries throughout. One can perceive the chemise, sage, and bay giving a gorgeous savory expression, reflective of the natural environment that surrounds the Sage Mountain Vineyard. 2021 is a wine of incredible complexity and nuance – a wine for the ages.
WINEGROWING- Continuum is estate grown on our Sage Mountain Vineyard. It’s location, high on Pritchard Hill along the eastern ridge above Oakville, overlooks Napa Valley and the San Francisco Bay. The rocky, volcanic soils of the site focus the vine’s energy keeping yields low yielding fruit of depth and complexity. 38 acres of mature estate vineyard, planted in 1991 and 1996, with additional plantings in 2004, 2010, together comprise 38 distinct vineyard blocks. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Merlot are grown from 1300 to 1600 feet in elevation, on western and southern facing aspects with slight northern and eastern slopes in places. This diversity of plantings on our volcanic soils are the essence of the complexity of Continuum.
PRODUCTION- Continuum is 100% estate grown, produced and bottled. All fruit is selectively hand-harvested at night. The fruit is then sorted before and after de-stemming, and gravity fed into French oak or concrete tanks. A threeday cold soak is followed by fermentation, receiving three to four pumpovers daily, and délestage two to three times in total during the most active period. The wine remains on skins in tank for 20 to 40 days. All lots are then drained, basket pressed, and transferred with lees for malolactic fermentation and aging. Continuum spent 22 months in barrel. 63 percent of French oak barrels were new and 35 percent were once used. A single concrete amphora was also used for aging. The wine clarified slowly and settled naturally in our cold barrel room, was racked sparingly and bottled without fining or filtration. Each vineyard lot was tasted and carefully considered many times to assemble the blend. TASTING NOTES- Continuum shows energy and verve. The wine expresses purity and precision, with high tone aromatics of red and blue fruit, deep plum and rose oil. This vintage shows an approachable nerve of the land in the refined mineral quality on the palate. The surrounding native vegetation of bay and sage is evidenced in an earthy, savory profile. This is a shimmering, silky and harmoniously integrated wine with densely packed fine grain tannins.
DECANTING- For the fullest sensory experience we encourage decanting to allow the wine to breathe before serving. Decanting awakens the wine’s more purely fragrant expression and enhances the suppleness of the palate. Continuum is accessible and enjoyable upon release; however extended aging will be richly rewarded.
Review:
This is so aromatic with blackcurrant, blackberry, graphite, iron, pine bark and orange peel. Hints of wild sage and peppermint. Seductive perfumes. Full-bodied with extremely well-integrated tannins that have great length. Elegant firmness at the finish. The quality of the tannins is some of the best I have had in a young Continuum. Seamless silk. Great finish. 45% cabernet sauvignon, 35% cabernet franc, 11% merlot and 9% petit verdot. Best after 2027.
-James Suckling 99 Points
This note is written before the final blend of the 2021 Continuum. Deep purple-black in color, it hits the ground running with an intense nose of red and black currant preserves, lilacs, baker's chocolate, and graphite, leading to an undercurrant of black olives and red loam. On the medium to full-bodied palate it is very lively, grainy and super-concentrated, finishing long and shimmery.
-Wine Independent 98-100 Points
Matheus Piesporter Michelsberg Riesling is made from 100 percent Riesling.
QBA stands for "Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete", which means that the wine comes from one of the 13 designated wine regions.
A beautiful wine with delicate perfumed aromas. Medium bodied, well balanced, filled with peaches and green apples, crisp and fresh acidity.