Winemaker Notes
A classic dish like steak Diane pairs beautifully with this supple, fruit-forward Cabernet Sauvignon. The refinement and approachability of the Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon also pair well with a Sunday roast pork with root vegetables. For the perfect cheese course, Abbaye de Belloc, produced by Benedictine monks, is among the most elegant and silky of aged sheep’s milk cheeses, with hints of brown butter, toasted nuts, and caramel. This pairing is a good example of a wine and cheese of similar intensity.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Small amounts of Petit Verdot and Malbec add dimension to this rich, powerful wine that wears its alcohol well. It's ultra-vibrant in its wild blackberry character, with a lingering, saliva-inducing finish. Tobacco leaf, spicy oak, firm tannic structure and synchronicity of all the elements is superb. Drinking Window 2021 - 2034
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Wine Enthusiast
Velvety thick with black fruit and pepper notes, this wine is firm with tense, fully structured tannin—a powerful backbone that contributes complexity and concentration.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District shows a medium to deep garnet-purple color and nose of baked plums, dried mulberries and cassis plus coffee with earth and herbs hints. Taut and chewy in the mouth, it finishes a little hard and chewy but with bags of depth.
Rating: 91+
Founded in 1978, Pine Ridge Vineyards sits in the heart of the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley, tucked beneath of ridge of pines that speak to the dramatic geologic origins of our home and unique soils. For over 40 years the winery has become a pioneer farming and vinifying Bordeaux grapes with a focus on Cabernet Sauvignon. Today, Pine Ridge Vineyards farms a collection of 160 acres of Napa Green sustainably certified estate vineyards across Oakville, Rutherford, Howell Mountain and Carneros, including 47 acres in the Stags Leap District.
The winery’s Chenin Blanc + Viognier bottling started out as an experimental blend over twenty-five years ago and is now one of the most beloved and highly acclaimed white wines available. Original and unique, this fresh white wine blend is crafted to be fresh, fruity and easy to pair and enjoy. The wine has also inspired a Pine Ridge Sparkling wine also made with Chenin Blanc and a splash of Viognier.
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.