Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This beautifully balanced and layered wine offers delicious red- and black-cherry aromas, showing full, ripe flavors of succulent blueberries and blackberries with accents of cedar, graphite, iron and spearmint. It exhibits the polished, suave nature of Stags Leap District reds, overcoming a challenging vintage. Drink now or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Having just been bottled, it's possible the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Fay Vineyard wasn't showing its best. It seemed rather muted on the nose, only slowly opening to reveal cherry and blueberry fruit. However, it was full-bodied and typically silky, so it didn't seem to be suffering much (if at all) on the palate, finishing with ample length and grace.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Deep plum-hued, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Fay offers powerful, ripe, yet lively aromatics of black fruits, sappy flowers, graphite, and lead pencil. Aged 20 months in 100% new French oak, it's medium to full-bodied, has a supple, layered mouthfeel, moderate mid-palate depth, and ripe, building tannins.
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Vinous
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Fay is a very pretty, elegant wine. A dollop of Cabernet Franc (8%) lends notable freshness. Bright red-toned fruit, blood orange, cedar and sweet pipe tobacco are nicely delineated. Overall, the Fay is a bit light in texture, but its balance is very fine.
Considered one of the "first growths" of Napa Valley, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars produces renowned Cabernet Sauvignon from its historic Stags Leap District estate vineyards. Learn about Stags Leap history and estate-grown wines.
History of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars was founded in 1970 with the purchase of a 40 acre property in the now famed Stag’s Leap District AVA in Napa Valley. The winery brought international recognition to California winemaking and the Napa Valley region when their 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon won the 1976 Paris Tasting, also known as the "Judgement of Paris."
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Estate-Grown Cabernet Sauvignon
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' three estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignons - CASK 23, S.L.V. and Fay - are among the most highly regarded and collected Cabernet Sauvignons worldwide. The Cabernet wines are fashioned to express richness balanced by elegant restraint, an approach often described as "an iron fist in a velvet glove."
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Legend has it that quick and nimble stags would escape the indigenous hunters of southern Napa Valley through the landmark palisades that sit just northeast of the current city of Napa. As a result, the area was given the name, Stags Leap. While its grape-growing history dates back to the mid-1800s, winemaking didn’t really take off until the mid-1970s after a small but pivotal blind tasting called the Judgement of Paris.
When a 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won first place against its high-profile Bordeaux contenders, like Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Haut-Brion, international attention to the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley escalated rapidly.
The vineyards in this one-of-a-kind wine growing region receive hot afternoon air reflecting off of its eastern palisade formation. In combination with the cool evening breezes from the San Pablo Bay just south, this becomes an optimal environment for grape growing. While many varieties could thrive here, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate with virtually no others, save for a spot or two of Syrah.
Stags Leap soils—eroded volcanic and old river sediments—encourage well established root systems and result in complex, terroir-driven wines. Stags Leap District reds have a distinct sour cherry and black berry character with baking spice and dried earth aromas, and supple tannins.