Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Starting with the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, which is a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 8% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot, it reveals a saturated purple color as well as a big, sexy bouquet of blue and black fruits, melted licorice, smoke tobacco, and graphite. Ripe, full-bodied, and just loaded with fruit, it has impressive phenolics as well as ripe, sweet tannins, a fleshy, nicely concentrated mid-palate, and a great finish. Drink it over the coming 15 years or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Blended with 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 8% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is deep garnet-purple in color with black forest cake, Indian spices, menthol and black currant preserves notes plus hints of fruit cake, dusty soil, incense and black olives with a touch of chargrill. The palate is full-bodied, firm and chewy with good fruit concentration and expression, finishing long and spicy. This has plush tannins—well-managed!
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.