Winemaker Notes
The vintage gave ripe, beautiful fruit with abundant aromas and flavors. Round, rich, and smooth, this classic, precision Cabernet is aromatic in the glass, and complex and compelling in the mouth serving up layer upon layer of red and black fruit: red plum, briar and bramble fruit, black cherry, summer berry compote, and pomegranate with a touch of savory herbs. The tannins are structured and ripe, promising a long, delicious life in your cellar.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very strong and pure aromas of blackcurrants with violets and lightly herbal notes, leading to a palate that has dark-mineral allure. This delivers attractive, ripe dark berries with a very long, focused and assertive, neatly cut finish. Elegance with power. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon One Point Five Stags Leap is very deep purple-black in color and gives up intense Black Forest cake, black berry pie and blackcurrant cordial scents with hints of licorice, eucalyptus, espresso, tar and chargrilled beef. Full-bodied, it packs the black fruit preserves flavors and earthy accents into the palate, with a firm frame and great freshness on the finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is sourced from the producer’s Hillside Estate and Borderline Vineyards two miles south of the winery. It offers toasted oak, leather, clove and cinnamon— a savory profile that’s deceptively fresh in underlying acidity. Dark plum and black cherry flavors are lushly textured and spicy on the palate.
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Tasting Panel
Silky with bright plum and a lush, ripe style; deep and nicely structured. This instant classic is a tribute to the late John Shafer.
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.