Winemaker Notes
Blend: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot, 6% Malbec, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Cliff Lede is on my short list of favorite Napa Valley wineries. I have visited the property and tasted the wines on many occasions; I have always found the wines to be first-rate. The stylish, yet substantive 2013 Cliff Lede Cabernet appears to be one of the vintage's top wines. From start to finish, this wine represents the Stags Leap District AVA well—the wine's balance, elegance, and red fruit presence are elements that have made this area so renowned. (Tasted: November 2, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
One of the best-run and now superstar wineries in all of Napa is Cliff Lede. Starting with their 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap, a beautiful example of this AVA, the wine has a dense ruby/purple color, floral notes intermixed with crème de cassis , graphite and forest floor. It is full bodied, but with the elegance, finesse and lightness of being, despite its intensity. The wood is pushed to the background, and the wine is beautifully pure and long. Drink it over the next 20 years.
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.