Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Tomahawk Vineyard is the most potent wine in this lineup. This big, strapping Stags Leap Cabernet offers up copious dark fruit, grilled herbs, spice, leather and lavender, all wrapped into a bundle of power and energy. The 2019 needs cellaring, but it's a compelling Cabernet in the making.
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Jeb Dunnuck
More cassis, black cherry, chalky minerality, and floral notes emerge from the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Tomahawk Vineyard, a 100% Cabernet aged 18 months in 70% new French oak. It's rich, medium to full-bodied, and concentrated, with plenty of tannins as well as terrific overall balance. It's certainly approachable today, yet it's going to benefit from 2-4 years in the cellar and should drink brilliantly over the following 15 years or more. It's a classic Stags Leap Cabernet.
Rating: 94+ -
James Suckling
A fragrant nose of plums, dark cherries, mulberries, dried flowers, sweet spices and violets. Medium- to full-bodied with firm, fine tannins and fresh acidity. Velvety and creamy. Pretty purple fruit and floral notes on a supple finish. Drink after 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Marked by scents of black cherries, earth, cassis, cedar and vanilla, the 100% Cab 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Tomahawk Vineyard is medium to full-bodied, reasonably concentrated but silky and not overly tannic. Gentle and harmonious, it then turns a bit crisp on the finish.
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.