Winemaker Notes
Blend: 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Composed of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Poetry prances out of the glass with impressively flamboyant scents of blackberry compote, blueberry preserves, blackcurrant pastilles and candied violets, giving way to nuances of dried roses, menthol, powdered cinnamon and aniseed with a waft of cedar chest. Full-bodied, the palate is impactful yet maintains compelling restraint, featuring layers of crunchy black fruits, exotic spices and floral hints, framed by firm, exquisitely ripe tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length and depth. This is one of those beguiling 2018 Napa Cabernets that is simply going to blow you away!
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Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship from this great estate is the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Poetry, which checks in as 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and the balance Cabernet Franc. Impressive cassis and blueberry fruits as well as notes of graphite, cedar pencil, bouquet garni, tobacco, iron, and spring flowers all define the bouquet. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it shows the tighter, more elegant, seamless style of the 2018 vintage yet packs beautiful mid-palate concentration, nicely integrated acidity, and a great finish. It doesn't possess the same sexiness or sweet tannins found in the 2015 and 2016, but it’s pure class. Do your best to give bottles 3-5 years in the cellar and enjoy over the following 30 years or more.
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Wine Enthusiast
This blend of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc comes from the proprietor's Cliff Lede Vineyard. Structured, richly layered and dense, it is seamless, focused and full of intense tension, with notes of currant, raspberry, rose and violet. Drink 2028–2038.
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.