Winemaker Notes
The 2021 Fay Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon offers fragrant and generous aromas with notes of boysenberry, Bing cherries, strawberry preserves, a touch of spice, cookie dough, and subtle floral notes. This wine exhibits a youthful, vibrant mouthfeel with a savory coating and lasting finish. Tannins are silky and persistent with lasting berry notes. Try pairing this estate-grown Cabernet with Maitake mushroom risotto, maple-glazed salmon or grilled buffalo burgers with caramelized onion & Havarti cheese.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Fay Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon has always been on my short list of top wines made in the world. The 2021, from an outstanding growing season, is one of the winery's best! This wine excels with aromas and flavors of bright fruit, aromas of blackberries and hints of earth and oaky notes. Invite your wine buds, add a prime rib, and enjoy. (Tasted: March 2, 2025, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
Savory, generous and impressive, this icon of a wine from the famed Fay vineyard flows through the mouth with flavors of cedar, sage and thyme. Richly flavored, concentrated and mouthwatering, this is a wine to savor. An impressive balance of succulent tannins and juicy acidity bring energy and great length.
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James Suckling
This is tight, concentrated and youthful, harnessing power in a polished package. It goes deep in black fruit, espresso beans and 90% cacao flavors. Intricately woven with fine-grained tannins and a full body for a focused, linear expression that will carry it for decades to come.
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Decanter
The 2021 Fay is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 21 months, in 100% new French oak. It is a glass-staining ruby-purple. It has explosive aromatics of violets, earth, sweet cedar, black olive, espresso bean, black licorice, and dried fennel. It is full-bodied with gritty, granular tannins. The plush black and blue fruit character is laced with brown baking spices and marjoram. A chalky mineral intensity builds in this powerful wine, which boasts plenty of intrigue and the refreshing, savory qualities of the 2021 vintage.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and caressing, with a lovely gilding of violet to its core of anise, boysenberry, blackberry and mulberry notes. The long, polished finish shows a suave kiss of toast. This gorgeous red is aimed at the hedonist crowd.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Fay Vineyard boasts oodles of red-berried fruit accented by complex herbal nuances. The redcurrant and cherry notes lead into a medium to full-bodied palate that's silky in texture, framed by fine-grained tannins and finishing long and elegantly.
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.