Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Sleek Stags Leap Cabernet with velvety texture backed by a thread of searing acidity; classic structure and great length
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine exudes classic aspects of the appellation, combining power with graceful elegance and finesse, though that finesse is more tightly wound in this vintage. Plummy and thick in dusty tannin, it’s a structured, lovingly crafted and complex wine, eager to be cellared and enjoyed at its best 2026–2031.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Tomahawk Vineyard exhibits slightly more intensity, a more backward, earthy style, more elevated tannin, but deep black and red currant fruit and floral notes. It should drink nicely for 15 or more years.
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Wine Spectator
Pure and focused, with grippy tannins that frame the black licorice, blackberry and floral scents, showing hints of savory herb and fresh-turned earth. Drink now through 2027.
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.