Winemaker Notes
The 2022 CASK 23 offers a compelling bouquet of complexity and depth, with aromas of ripe currants, blackberry compote, and dark plums layered over notes of dried herbs, figs, and a touch of tobacco. The palate is structured and flavorful, yet marked by a refined, savory texture. Elegant and expressive, it dances across the tongue with vibrant flavors of currants, black fruits, and delicate floral nuances. Polished tannins provide a silky framework, culminating in a long, graceful finish that exudes both power and finesse.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
I'd put the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Cask 23 up with the crème de la crème in the vintage. It's not massive yet shines for its balance and elegance, bringing ample plum and cassis fruit as well as graphite, scorched earth, and violet, floral nuances. Aged 20 months in 100% new French oak, it has beautifully integrated oak, fine tannins, and again, a non-2022 like purity and freshness.
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James Suckling
An extra level of intensity and concentration elevates this flagship wine of the iconic estate founded by Warren Winiarski in 1970. So deep with black fruit, dark oak spices, earth and iron undertones. It offers a quiet strength, balanced tannic structure, rich flavors and a long finish that will carry it far into the future. Drinkable now but best from 2030.
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Decanter
100% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged for 20 months in 100% new French oak. Heady black currant fruit lures you in, layered with espresso and perfumed violets. Medium-to-full-bodied on the palate, framed by plush, juicy dark berry fruit, with hints of coriander crema and cola. Fine tobacco and sandalwood build alongside loamy earth, superfine tannins are nicely integrated, and the finish grows fruitier, revealing blue-fruit aromatics and candied pastille. The first vintage of Cask 23 was released in 1974, with André Tchelistcheff serving as a consultant. While tasting barrels of S.L.V., Tchelistcheff identified one so exceptional that it was bottled on its own, named after the barrel it was aged in —Cask 23. Initially bottled only in the best vintages, this changed in 1990 with the introduction of FAY as another single-vineyard expression. Since then, Cask 23 has become a blend of the two single vineyards, FAY and S.L.V., aiming to achieve a balanced, harmonious expression, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
True to form, the 2022 Cask 23 Cabernet Sauvignon exhibits floral notes (violets) on the nose, plus hints of sage to go along with cassis fruit. It's impressively full-bodied and velvety in the mouth, with a lingering finish that just lacks the zest and energy of the 2021 version.
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Vinous
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Cask 23 is the best of the three 2022s from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. Obviously the blend of top barrels from the two sites is an advantage. Floral notes lift a core of red-toned fruit, dried flowers, cedar and spice. The blend favors Fay by a touch, and that comes through in the wine's restrained personality. Like all the 2022s here, the Cask 23 is more finesse than power. Its balance is sublime, and the long, understated finish is terrific.
Considered one of the "first growths" of Napa Valley, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars produces renowned Cabernet Sauvignon from its historic Stags Leap District estate vineyards. Learn about Stags Leap history and estate-grown wines.
History of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars was founded in 1970 with the purchase of a 40 acre property in the now famed Stag’s Leap District AVA in Napa Valley. The winery brought international recognition to California winemaking and the Napa Valley region when their 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon won the 1976 Paris Tasting, also known as the "Judgement of Paris."
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Estate-Grown Cabernet Sauvignon
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' three estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignons - CASK 23, S.L.V. and Fay - are among the most highly regarded and collected Cabernet Sauvignons worldwide. The Cabernet wines are fashioned to express richness balanced by elegant restraint, an approach often described as "an iron fist in a velvet glove."
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.